From the Beginning
by Siriusly Devoted
Summary: The story of the Marauders at Hogwarts; their lives, their friendships, their pranks, their loves, and what happened to make it all go wrong.
1. An Introduction

_A/N: Okay, so I've been writing this for a verryyy long time. I have it all planned out and everything so please be patient if you don't warm to the new characters straight away as it is ultimately the story of the Marauders. At least make it to chapter two, when it's up. :P._

 _Bit of background: The OC's are based upon myself and my friends and I tried to tie us in with the Marauders and then came up with a way that explains what happens in the HP universe. The focus of the story is on everyone though, not just the OC's, as the story does progress past Hogwarts._

 _Thank you for taking the time to read! Reviews are appreciated, even if it is just to tell me that you won't be reading more! I really do hope you enjoy it!_

An Introduction

It was September 1st 1971 and children from all over Britain were preparing to set off for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Parents were pushing trolleys with an assortment of odd looking items through Kings Cross Station, in London, and were receiving weird looks from non-magical people – muggles. If the 'muggles' had bothered looking at them hard enough they would have seen the odd looking people disappearing into the gap between platforms nine and ten.

Platform 9 and ¾ (the platform from which the Hogwarts Express operated) was full of families bidding their children goodbye, and to owl them once a week, not to play too many pranks, not to get into too much trouble and detentions, to make sure their house won the House Cup and to win the Quidditch Cup! Children (and teenagers) were furiously ignoring their parents and the older students were looking around for their friends and stowing their trunks in an empty compartment on the train saving it for when their friends arrived.

Most of the scared looking children were eleven year old witches and wizards, ready to start their first year at Hogwarts. These were the children who were clinging to parents and being wary about getting on the train. Some were bursting with confidence, but quickly got pushed out of the way by older students. At quarter to eleven, however, parents were pushing their offspring onto the train, telling them to get a seat and pack their luggage away as the train would be leaving in fifteen minutes.

It was at thirteen minutes to eleven that Peter Pettigrew arrived on the platform followed by his parents Ross and Jemima, and younger brother Caden. Jemima was followed by Holly Jameson, Rick and Shane Blue and Mirren Crowley. Six of the eight then impatiently turned back to the apparently solid wall and sighed. Moments later a giggling Ruby-Jane Pettigrew, twin of Peter, Mackenzey Jameson and Troy Blue came through, and Hunter Crowley then appeared behind them, rolling his eyes. As the six parents shook their heads Ruby-Jane and Peter's older sister, Alixxandria, and Troy's elder brother, Jack, pushed their way through from the back of the group.

"Siblings! Who'd have them?" Jack asked Alixx.

"Y'know, we ask ourselves that every day," Ruby-Jane replied, grinning.

Jack gave her a friendly push. "Watch it!"

Jemima and Holly rolled their eyes. "C'mon, the train… Now!"

Giggling still, the three first year girls pulled their trunks to the train, followed by the more dignified Hunter, and the sighing third year students Alixx and Jack. Caden watched anxiously, a wanton expression on his face.

"I want to go, Mum!"

"Next year, darling," Jemima soothed. "Peter, come on, the train leaves in seven minutes!"

Shuffling, Peter slowly gathered his belongings and walked to the train.

"Come here, son," Ross said gruffly, picking up the trunk easily and pushing it on the train for Peter.

"Thanks, Dad," Peter thanked his father, before gazing into the train.

"Pete! There you are! Thought I'd lost you!" Ruby-Jane appeared from inside one of the compartments and began pulling his trunk through the door. Peter smiled and helped Ruby-Jane with his trunk.

Together they stowed the trunk on a luggage rack before leaving the compartment with Mackenzey, Troy and Hunter. Alixx and Jack had long since disappeared to find their friends.

"Yes, Mum, I promise to write every week!" Mackenzey was telling her mum when the whistle blew as Troy was telling her parents she would do everything Jack told her to, crossing her fingers at the same time.

"Okay, baby, but…"

"Mum! I've got to go!" Mackenzey told Holly exasperatedly.

Each eleven year old gave their respective parents a hug, then went round the group hugging each adult and promising different things. Alixx and Jack, back to wish their parents a quick goodbye, watched in amusement.

"It's a great feeling, that not being us this year," Alixx said. Jack nodded in agreement.

"Bye, Mum!" Jack called. "Bye, Dad! See you next year!" Alixx did the same, and both headed back onto the train.

"Oh, my babies," Jemima sobbed, her arm around her husband. "Just one left!"

Shane grinned. "Both mine are gone. Peace at last!"

Rick laughed. "Maybe we should try for another," he winked.

"No way!" Shane looked horrified.

All six adults laughed.

"Eww," Caden said, looking like he was going to be sick.

"Aw, honey, I'm sorry," Shane told him, ruffling his hair.

"I can't wait till I'm off next year!" he declared.

"I'm sure you can't, son," Mirren Crowley, Hunter's grandfather, said. "But, until then, you're stuck with us!"

Caden groaned.

Alixx and Jack were sitting in the same compartment, for once. Last year their friends had agreed to hang out together, despite them being from different houses, for the sake of their friends.

"We're going to check on the sibs, will you lot be all right?" Jack asked. Nods from the other five in the compartment made Alixx grin.

"We won't be too long, try not to kill each other," she warned, getting up and sliding the door open.

"And if you do," Jack added. "Don't make too much mess, we don't want to have to clean it up!" Laughing, the third years left the compartment to find their siblings.

A couple of carriages down Alixx found the five friends. She grinned round at them all. "How are we all, then?"

"Fine, sissy, you?" Ruby-Jane replied.

Alixx made to hit Ruby-Jane lightly on the head. "No more cheek from you, Missy,"

"Aw," Ruby-Jane made a face.

"Pete? How are you holding up?" Alixx asked her brother.

"I'm all right thanks, Alixx," Peter smiled. "And you know Ruby will always be there!"

"Mm," Alixx looked sceptical. She knew her sister would intend to be there, but sometimes that girl just forgot things… Like her twin. "All right then…"

"Troy? What is that on your head?" Jack asked, looking at the mottled brown thing on his sister's head.

"Heh, it's Hunter's granddad's fishing hat."

"He gave it to me for good luck at Hogwarts," Hunter added, not looking in the least abashed by the incredulous look on Jack's face.

"Riiiggghhhttt,"

"Yeah, and we're good too," Mackenzey added, indicating herself and Hunter, as the older students turned to leave.

"Good," Jack grinned. "See you then! And good luck at the sorting!" They left, and Peter asked what they meant by good luck.

"Oh, nothing Pete," Mackenzey said. "Mum told me to ignore anything those two say, they're just trying to scare us,"

"I wouldn't put it past either of them," Troy muttered, shaking her fist at the door where her brother had been.

They all laughed, until a knock on the door interrupted them. A boy and a girl, both scared looking first years, appeared. The boy stepped forward and nervously asked if they could sit there as some nasty looking sixth years had stolen their compartment.

"Sure," Troy pushed Ruby-Jane up toward the window, whilst Mackenzey and Hunter stood up to let them in. The girl slid in next to Peter, and the boy slid up next to her. Mackenzey then squashed on the end, whilst Hunter sat down next to Troy.

"Hi," Ruby-Jane said brightly.

"Hi," the boy replied.

"Are you muggleborn?" Troy asked, bluntly.

"Um, yeah," the boy answered hesitantly. "We both are,"

"That explains a lot," Troy muttered, earning herself a nudge in the ribs by Ruby-Jane.

"Anyhow, I'm Mackenzey Jameson and my Mum's a witch. Dad left when I was a baby… But he's a muggle. So I'm a half blood." Mackenzey told them, easing the two newcomers into conversation.

"I'm Ruby-Jane Pettigrew, and this is my brother Peter," Peter nodded at them. "We're twins," she said, unnecessarily. "Both our parents are half bloods, so we are too…"

"Hunter, Hunter Crowley. Pureblood. Great grandson to Alistair Crowley, the great Black magician of the 20th century…"

"Stuff it, Hunter!" Troy said.

"If you wanna know any more, just ask, when this lot," he jerked his thumb at the girls, "aren't around,"

The boy grinned. "Will do."

"Troy…" Ruby-Jane said.

Troy rolled her eyes. "Troy Blue, half blood," she gave grudgingly.

"And you are…?" Mackenzey asked.

"I'm Chris Foxx… Muggleborn…" The boy replied.

Everyone turned to look at the girl. "I… I'm Kerris… Venturi. M-Muggleborn,"

"Nice to meet you," Hunter said. "No need to be so nervous, we don't bite, honest," he winked at her, and earned himself a small smile in return.

"So, what house do you reckon we'll be in?" Mackenzey asked.

"Slytherin," Hunter answered immediately. "After all, I am a Pureblood, and my whole family has been in Slytherin…"

"Jack's in Slytherin," Troy offered, "and I doubt I'll be going to Gryffindork or Hufflepouff,"

"Hey! My parents were in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!" Ruby-Jane argued.

"I know," Troy grinned. "But seriously, I doubt they're for me. So Slytherin it is."

"Well, Alixx is in Ravenclaw, but neither Peter nor I are that smart… Y'know. So I think Hufflepuff for me… Probably," Ruby-Jane said.

"I don't know where I'll be going…" Peter said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Gryffindor," Ruby-Jane replied instantly. "It's where you belong, whether you believe it or not,"

"Suuurrreeee. I rather believe Hufflepuff," Peter voiced his disbelief.

"You'll see," Ruby-Jane grinned.

"Hmm, well Mum was a Hufflepuff, too," Mackenzey said, "And I don't think I'm brave enough for Gryffindor or clever enough for Ravenclaw. So, it's probably Hufflepuff for me,"

"I've been reading about the houses," Chris spoke up, "And I reckon either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor is where I'll end up,"

"Kerris?" Ruby-Jane asked.

"Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff… Maybe," She replied, gaining some confidence at being invited to join the conversation.

"So, we've deduced that, then," Troy said.

"We always knew it'd be unlikely we'd stay together," Mackenzey added.

"Didn't stop us hoping," Ruby-Jane finished.

Seeing the looks on Chris and Kerris' faces, Hunter explained. "We've all known each other since we were really young. All their parents went to school together, and my Granddad knew Peter and Ruby's grandma, before she died… So we all grew up together…"

"Yeah, the best of friends!" Ruby-Jane said.

"Sometimes, I wonder why," Troy laughed, giving Ruby a weird look.

"Mm, me too," Mackenzey agreed with Troy.

"Hey, you don't have to live with her!" Peter exclaimed,

"Aaaah, if we're both in Hufflepuff, I will do!" Mackenzey yelled in horror.

"Sucker!" Troy and Hunter said in unison.

Ruby sulked in the corner.

"C'mon Rubes, you know we're kidding,"

"Pffft!" she replied, still pouting.

"So, who fancies a game of exploding snap?!" Hunter asked, then proceeding to explain to Chris and Kerris how you played, and engaging everyone in the compartment in several games.

While they are doing this I will take some time to describe each of the characters you have met so far.

Jemima and Ross Pettigrew are Alixx, Peter, Ruby-Jane and Caden's parents. Both are medium height, although Jemima has long, curly, black hair and green eyes, whereas Ross has short, straight hair and blue eyes framed with glasses. Alixxandria takes after her mother, with the exception of having straight hair. Peter is like neither of his parents, fairly short with sandy hair and watery blue eyes. His twin, Ruby-Jane, is also short but slight with just over the shoulder chocolate hair and grey eyes. Caden, the youngest, takes after his father, but has his mother's green eyes and curly hair.

Holly Jameson is a tall, blonde model figure, whose only child, Mackenzey, is the light of her life. Mackenzey is medium height, with short ginger hair and green eyes, a million freckles dusting her cheeks.

Troy Blue's parents (Rick and Shane) are both highly respected societal people. Rick is a good looking business man, blonde hair and blue eyes, whereas his wife is a tall redhead with hazel eyes. Jack is a tall red headed boy with blue eyes, and Troy is medium height and a blonde, blue eyed tomboy, natural red streaks highlighting her hair.

Hunter is a wannabe Rocker, attempting even at eleven to grow a small beard, although once he got mistaken for a small dwarf and shaved it off. His dark hair has already reached considerable length for his age, and at the best of times his dark eyes sparkle with mischief. However, if the others hadn't known him for the majority of their lives he would look rather intimidating.

Chris Foxx is an Albino, with white hair and red eyes, hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. His pale skin is not a sickly shade but he still stands out in a crowd.

Kerris Venturi is a tall, thin brunette, with shoulder length hair and deep blue eyes. Her skin is dark, but not Afro-Caribbean, and she has black streaks naturally in her hair.

All of the females mentioned are exceptionally pretty in their own way, whether you prefer blonde, brunettes or redheads, and all the males are good looking, with the exception of Peter, who had yet still to grow out of his puppy fat.

Back to the game…

"You are such a cheater!" Peter exclaimed, glaring at Troy.

"Hey! Hey, it's just a game!" Hunter intervened.

"Shut it, Kaskitewaw!"

"Oi! We agreed we'd never bring that up!"

"Yeah? Well, guess what? We did!"

As Hunter and Peter continued their verbal fighting, Mackenzey tried to get between them, which was kind of difficult considering Peter was on the other side of Chris and Kerris and Hunter was opposite her. Ruby-Jane and Troy leaned across the table, in front of Peter (which didn't interrupt the fight in the least) and said to Chris and Kerris;

"They're always like this,"

"Always have been,"

"And nothing, nothing, ever stops them!"

"They just wear themselves out…"

"And the next minute, everything's forgotten!"

"Boys!" they finished together.

Chris and Kerris laughed, a little nervously in Troy's opinion.

"Don't worry about it," she told them, "It doesn't mean anything,"

"I think they need it, sometimes," Ruby-Jane added, "Being the only boys in a group of girls, all the time,"

"Oh, and in case you're wondering, Kaskitewaw is the dwarf name we call Hunter, ever since he got mistaken for a mini dwarf because of his beard. He hates it, and we generally only bring it up when we're arguing…"

Chris' reply was interrupted by the lunch cart, as was, incidentally, Hunter and Peter's argument.

"Anything from the cart, dears?" The plump woman asked them.

"Ooh, chocolate!"

"That's pretty much the only thing she gets excited about!" Ruby-Jane whispered to Chris and Kerris.

"I heard that!" Troy turned round to glare at Ruby-Jane.

Ruby grinned. "You know it's the truth!"

"Not the only thing…"

"Okay, no, but still…"

"I can't be arsed to argue…" Troy turned back to the lunch cart and listed everything she wanted.

"That's another thing… Troy is a very slow person… With everything! And she can't be bothered half the time. But we love her for it,"

Halfway through her list Troy smiled, obviously hearing what Ruby-Jane had said. Finally, everyone had got what they wanted, and the exploding snap had been pushed to the side to make room for all the sweets and snacks the seven first years had accumulated.

"Dippet! Again!" Peter groaned. "Here," he passed it to Chris.

"Isn't he the…"

"Headmaster of Hogwarts? Yeah," Hunter answered.

"Cool,"

"He's such a nutter!" Mackenzey said, halfway through choosing a Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean.

"You've never met him!"

"Yeah, but I've heard what all the parents, Alixx and Jack have said about him!"

"And they'd still trust him with their lives," Troy was somewhat sceptical.

"Hey, you can make your own assumptions and opinions when you actually meet the man, all right?" Ruby-Jane told Troy.

"Yeah, I suppose," Troy answered. Ruby-Jane gave her a withering look.

"All right, girlies!" Mackenzey injected, before yet another argument broke out. Despite being best friends for years, the five original friends all had different personalities and could still rub each other up the wrong way, and knew how to press each other's buttons.

"Do you reckon we'll cope, all being in different houses?" Ruby-Jane asked, a light frown marring her face.

"I think so," Hunter replied.

"And it'll do us some good to be apart, Rubes," Peter said.

"Mm, maybe," Ruby sighed, "I hope we don't drift apart though!"

"I don't think we will," Mackenzey confirmed in a confident tone.

"Sentimentality," Troy muttered.

"Oh, you know you don't want to drift from us either, so you can stop complaining!" Ruby-Jane told her.

Troy shrugged slightly. "Yeah, I know," She smiled. "I'm glad you're all my friends,"

Chris whispered to Kerris, "Do you get the feeling we're intruding?"

"A bit..."

Peter turned to them. "Sorry, we get like this. But don't feel like you're not meant to be here, our arms are open, so to speak,"

"That's just scaring them, Pete," Ruby-Jane said.

He grinned. "Am I scaring you?"

"No," Kerris said, as Chris nodded, jokingly.

"See?" Pete told his sister.

"Uh hum, Chris nodded, thank you very much!"

"He was joking!"

"Who says?"

"I did!"

"Ha! I win!"

"What?"

They were stopped by Chris and Kerris laughing. After staring at them for a couple of seconds, Peter and Ruby-Jane joined in, and soon the whole compartment was filled with their laughter.

Needless to say, before they even got to Hogwarts, both Christopher Foxx and Kerris Venturi were also firm friends with Peter and Ruby-Jane Pettigrew, Mackenzey Jameson, Troy Blue and Hunter Crowley.

As they arrived at Hogsmeade the seven hurriedly pulled on their robes and yanked down their luggage, pushing all the leftover sweets into pockets and into trunks.

"We're actually here," Mackenzey said, in wonderment.

"See what I mean about sentimentality?" Troy said to no one in particular.

Kerris laughed. She had become a lot more comfortable around the five since the beginning of the train journey.

"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" They looked over to where a massive but kindly looking man with a bushy beard and wearing a moleskin jacket was standing with a lantern, and rushed over. They were joined by about twenty other eleven year olds before the man introduced himself as Hagrid, the gamekeeper, and instructed them to get four to a boat. Mackenzey, Ruby-Jane, Troy and Hunter scrambled into one, as Kerris, Chris and Peter climbed carefully into another.

"Wow," Kerris breathed as the boats began moving.

"So cool!" Chris agreed.

The air around the seven as they approached the castle was sizzling with excitement. Hagrid told them that they'd get their first glance at it around the bend, and what a glance it was! Mackenzey gasped. It was so beautiful!

"Imagine what it would have been like had it been raining," Troy commented dryly.

"Do you have to put downers on everything?" Ruby-Jane asked her, a smile tugging at her lips.

Troy smiled. "No, it's just fun that way,"

They laughed as they boats drew up into a harbour like area and they disbanded from the boats to gather in a group again.

"Follow' me!" Hagrid called, setting off up towards the castle. They ended up in a small room off the Entrance Hall and the Great Hall.

"Now, this is where I leave yer," Hagrid told them, "Good luck!"

The students all crowded round nervously, with the exception of the seven. Their just being together made the situation a whole lot better.

"Good luck!" Ruby-Jane whispered round to everyone, as a severe looking woman entered the room. "I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress. When I call your name, you will step forward and sit on this stool and place the hat on your head. Is that understood?"

General murmurs of agreement followed.

"I will be back in a few minutes. You will then proceed out in alphabetical order to be sorted," She disappeared.

"Okay, I'm nervous!" Kerris confided.

"Me too!" Peter added.

"Just stay calm," Troy said. "You're only being sorted,"

McGonagall came back into the room. "Follow me," The thirty or so students followed her out into the Great Hall. Many gasped at the sight of so many older students, all with their eyes on the first years.

"Oh my god," Ruby-Jane whispered from behind Hunter.

"I know!" he whispered back.

"I'm shaking like a leaf!" Mackenzey's voice came from behind Ruby-Jane.

"Rubes! I'm scared!" Ruby-Jane heard her brother from behind Mackenzey.

"Tell Pete he'll be okay!" Ruby-Jane hissed at Mackenzey.

"Rubes says you'll be fine!"

Peter nodded as McGonagall came to an abrupt halt. The crowd gathered to the left of the stool and McGonagall stepped back. The first years watched the hat on the stool and waited in undisguised apprehension until the brim of the hat opened in what looked like a mouth, and started to sing. Some of the first years gasped again whilst others looked on.

 _Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can top them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong is Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart.  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil.  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a steady mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind.  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folk use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So out me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a thinking cap!_

The end of the song was met with loud applause and cheers. After a few moments McGonagall asked for silence.

"Now the sorting will begin… Aubrey, Bertram!"

A skinny, blonde boy walked forward nervously. The hat was on his head mere seconds before "RAVENCLAW!"

"Avery, Marcus!" Avery was a dark skinned, dark eyed tall boy, with a malicious sneer on his face. Again the hat took seconds to declare him "SLYTHERIN!"

"Black, Sirius!" Ruby-Jane saw a couple of girls sit up at the Slytherin table (as Avery had just gone over there). The hat took nearly a minute on the boy's head, during which Ruby could see his fingers clenched together tightly, before "GRYFFINDOR!" He whooped, and pumped his fist in the air before strutting over to the Gryffindor table. Ruby shook her head. "Nutter," she thought.

"Blue, Troy!" As Troy walked forward, the other six plus Jack and Alixx at the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables sat and stood up straighter, expectantly. Just seconds later, Troy was declared the newest "SLYTHERIN!" Ruby sighed. There was no way she'd be with Troy.

"Clifton, Chantelle!" (What a name! thought Ruby) was made a "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Crowley, Hunter!" Ruby took notice again, along with the five others… Hunter looked very calm and collected, even with the tatty hat on his head, until finally "SLYTHERIN!" Ruby sighed again. Two down, five to go.

"Evans, Lily!" Evans was declared a GRYFFINDOR, followed by Brian Fairfield, who became the first male HUFFLEPUFF.

"Foxx, Christopher!" Chris walked forward nervously, but eventually seemed to gather courage and sat down determinedly on the stool and jammed the hat on his head. Seconds later he was a "GRYFFINDOR!" Three down, four to go.

"Gudgeon, Davey!" Gudgeon became a "RAVENCLAW!" followed by another "HUFFLEPUFF!" Abigail Harris.

Sally Ireland and Christie Jacob seemed to already be best friends and both yelled triumphantly when Jacob was made a "RAVENCLAW" and followed Ireland's path to the Ravenclaw table.

"Jameson, Mackenzey!" Ruby crossed her fingers. The hat barely touched Mackenzey's head before "HUFFLEPUFF!" "Yes!" Ruby thought, and turned to smile at Pete. He returned it half-heartedly.

Frank Longbottom, Remus Lupin and Mary MacDonald were all sorted into "GRYFFINDOR!", followed by Andrew MacMillan and John McKay, another two "HUFFLEPUFF!", Niall Mulciber the fourth "SLYTHERIN!" and Warwick Oliver a "RAVENCLAW!" Then it was Peter.

"Pettigrew, Peter!" He walked forward shakily and Ruby-Jane wished she could reach out to him. The hat was on his head for going on a minute before the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Ruby-Jane breathed a sigh of relief and gave him the thumbs up as he grinned at her and walked to the Gryffindor table. Ruby-Jane noted he sat next to Chris who was sitting with the Black, Lupin and Longbottom boys before being called. Five down, two to go.

"Pettigrew, Ruby-Jane!" Breathing in, she held herself high as she walked to the stool. She sat on the stool carefully and pulled the hat on.

"Hmm, you have brains in there, and a lot of courage I see. Some cunning, but you don't wish to be in Slytherin, despite your loyalties to one of your oldest friends… No, not Ravenclaw? Then it'll have to be "HUFFLEPUFF!"" Ruby-Jane stood up, taking the hat off as she did so and breathed in happily. At least she was with Mackenzey. She walked to the Hufflepuff table as "Potter, James!" was called. Now as she watched the sorting she could see all the first years yet to be sorted. Shame there were so few left!

James Potter was made a "GRYFFINDOR!" followed by another "GRYFFINDOR!" Alice Prewett. Ruby-Jane noted that Potter also went and sat next to the Black boy. "Pete's going to have no trouble with friends," she thought happily.

Her stomach grumbled, and as "Rosier, Evan!" was called she found herself wishing they would hurry up! No doubt some of the students had been wishing that since the sorting began, she reflected. Rosier was made a "SLYTHERIN!" not seconds after the hat touched his head, and was closely followed by "Snape, Severus!" Glancing over the Gryffindor table, Ruby-Jane saw the red headed Evans face fall as Snape was made a Slytherin. Joseph Stebbins was declared a "RAVENCLAW!", and then it was Kerris.

"Venturi, Kerris!" Kerris walked nervously to the stool and sat down. The hat was on her head for fifteen seconds before shouting "RAVENCLAW!" Ruby-Jane cheered with the rest as Kerris' face flushed with happiness. Finally "Wilkes, Miles!" was made a "SLYTHERIN!" and McGonagall removed the stool and the hat.

Dippet stood up and all the talking in the hall ceased. "Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts, and welcome to all new students," he smiled warmly down at them all. "I will once again remind you that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, and you have been advised not to enter it. I would also like to warn you to stay away from the new addition in the grounds; it can be vicious and will not hesitate to harm you. I think that is all, tuck in!"

He spread his arms and the first years looked in astonishment as the previously empty dishes filled with food. Ruby, sitting next to Mackenzey, looked on in awe, until Mackenzey reminded her if she didn't get a move on there'd be no food left! Hurriedly Ruby-Jane loaded her plate with pieces of meat and vegetables and gravy and proceeded to shovel it in her mouth.

"You can never have too much food!" She said to Mackenzey after swallowing a particularly large mouthful. Mackenzey laughed.

After the main course came dessert and neither girl could choose which to have. Instead they both grabbed bits of everything and laughed as they tried to eat two things at once. Finally, stuffed, they sat back on the bench and waved at Hunter and Troy over on the Slytherin table. Hunter waved back and Troy smiled and then, rolling her eyes at the pig like actions of the Wilkes and Mulciber boys just down the table, made a noose of thin air and pretended to hang herself.

Both Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey burst out in hysterics and Troy stuck her finger up at them, which only succeeded in making them laugh harder. Not long after, the plates cleaned magically and Dippet stood up again.

"If you will follow your prefects you will find your way to your common rooms and dormitories. Your prefect will give you the passwords. Have a pleasant night and timetables are given out in the morning." he indicated the older students standing up and waving at first years to follow. He sat back down again, and continued a conversation with McGonagall.

Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey stood up together. "I guess that's the last we'll be seeing of the others for a few hours then," Mackenzey said, waving over to Kerris alone at the Ravenclaw table.

"Yeah," Ruby-Jane replied distractedly, trying to find her brother through the crowd. Spotting him, she pulled Mackenzey over. Mackenzey resisted, saying they'd miss the prefect, but soon gave up and smiled at Chris as they approached. They were soon joined by Hunter and Troy and Kerris fought her way over from the Ravenclaw table.

"My dear Grandfather Merlin!" Troy said over everyone leaving the Great Hall.

The others laughed.

"You all right, Pete?" Ruby-Jane asked him.

"Yeah, thanks, Rubes,"

"Good!"

"Well, this is James Potter, Remus Lupin, Frank Longbottom and Sirius Black. Everyone this is Hunter Crowley, Troy Blue, Kerris Venturi, Mackenzey Jameson, my twin Ruby-Jane and you know Chris." Pete said, indicating each of the people in turn. As Ruby-Jane caught Sirius' eye he winked and she smiled back. He was going to say something before Frank and Remus insisted they all left otherwise they'd be stuck outside their houses all night as they didn't know locations or passwords. Everyone said their "nights" and "see you" and as they left the Gryffindor table and dispersed into their houses, Ruby-Jane looked back at Sirius and was surprised to find him looking at her. He blew her a kiss and she smiled lightly. He waved and mouthed "bye" and smirked when she waved back. She rolled her eyes and he smiled good-naturedly. Then he disappeared from view.

"What do you think of them then?" Mackenzey asked her.

"They seem all right, good for Pete, anyhow,"

"Yeah… Oh my god, I can't believe we're finally here!"

"I know!"

They continued their excited chatter as they followed a group of Hufflepuffs into the cellar. Rounding the corner they came to a still life painting and a prefect gave the password. Inside the common room it was cosy and welcoming with fat yellow armchairs. There were perfectly rounded doors leading off to the dormitories and both Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane were amazed.

"Wow! This is so cool!" Mackenzey screeched.

"First year dormitories are the first doors on both sides; girls on the right, boys on the left," A stern looking prefect directed them.

Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey followed Abigail Harris to the girl's dorm and found four fat little yellow covered beds.

"Sweet!" Ruby-Jane said, flopping onto one of the beds.

"Hi, I'm Abbie, Abbie Harris," Abigail Harris held out her hand.

"Mackenzey Jameson," Mackenzey reached out and shook Abigail's hand.

"And I'm Ruby-Jane Pettigrew," Ruby also shook Abigail's hand. When Abigail turned away both girls cracked up. This girl was slightly odd…

Another blonde and slightly overweight girl walked in, and introduced herself as Chantelle Clifton. Ruby-Jane had to stifle her laugh as she introduced both herself and Mackenzey. Together Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey pulled out toothbrushes and toothpaste and went to brush their teeth.

Minutes later, both were ready for bed, and called out a sleepy goodnight to each other and then Abbie and Chantelle before hitting the sack.

In Gryffindor Peter was doing well making friends with Frank, Remus, James and especially Sirius. Chris was talking quite a bit with Remus and Frank and both boys were happy. "Rubes was right, I had nothing to worry about," Peter thought as all six boys dressed for bed and climbed into their respective ones.

"Night all!" Sirius called, and all the boys grunted a "night!" in response. Peter smiled. He had a feeling Hogwarts was going to be good.

Troy sighed. The only first year girl in Slytherin? Ahh well, at least no one snores, she giggled to herself. She pulled down the blankets on her bed and snuggled into the warmth. That Remus boy was nice… She smiled as she fell asleep.

Hunter groaned silently. "I can't believe I'm stuck with an entire dorm of pureblood pricks!" he thought to himself, angrily pummelling his pillow. "No doubt they'll be after Chris and Kerris especially by the end of the week," he rolled his eyes. "Wankers," he thought as he drifted into unconsciousness.

Kerris was annoyed. Those stupid giggling twits, Ireland and Jacob, were doing her head in! And she was the only one of the seven in Ravenclaw! At least we have classes together, she thought, relief flooding through her. "And Chris is in most of them," she thought, almost without realising it. As she did: "Whoa! What? I did not just think that!" She sighed. She must be tired. Climbing into bed she attempted to ignore the other girls and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Well, that be it! Tell us what you think!


	2. Day One At Hogwarts

_A/N: Oh gosh, has it been a week already?! Doing weekly updates (at least for the foreseeable future!) as I'd like to be consistent. :). Also chapters are at least 5000 words so you know with every update there's a fair bit to get your teeth into!_

 _Again, I do hope you enjoy!_

Day One At Hogwarts

Thursday morning dawned bright and early. Ruby-Jane woke slowly, despite the lack of natural light down in the Hufflepuff quarters, and then jumped out of bed the second she realised where she was. She ran over to Mackenzey's bed and shook her.

"Kenz! Wake up!" She tried not to yell as she didn't want to wake Abbie and Chantelle, but Mackenzey just wasn't budging. Rolling her eyes, Ruby-Jane let Mackenzey sleep and went to wash and dress for the day.

Ten minutes later Mackenzey had gotten up of her own accord and was currently dancing around the dorm in her pyjamas. Ruby-Jane was leaning against the doorframe, watching her in amusement.

"C'mon, Kenz, I want some breakfast, and to get the timetables!"

"All right, all right, keep your hair on!"

Ruby grinned. "My hair is firmly attached to my head. Now, come on! Or I'll drag you down there in your pyjamas!" She laughed at the look of horror on Mackenzey's face.

"I might not care what other people think of me, but I am not letting anyone of any importance see me in these old, tatty things!"

"Anyone of importance, eh?" Ruby-Jane asked, seeing the blush creep on Mackenzey's face as she asked.

"Well, you know, the older students who we're already going to get grief off for being the youngest… and the Slytherins, excluding Troy and Hunter of course…"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes!" Mackenzey declared furiously, before grabbing some robes and locking herself in the bathroom. Ruby-Jane shook her head laughing.

"I was only teasing, Kenz!" She said to the door.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't funny!" Mackenzey replied coming out of the bathroom fully dressed. "And I don't appreciate it,"

"You never do," Ruby-Jane told her.

"Is that such a bad thing?"

Both girls threw some parchment and a few spare quills into their own bags and set off for breakfast.

"I don't know, maybe,"

Mackenzey shook her head. "Get used to it,"

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. C'mon race you to the Hall!" Ruby-Jane ran off, Mackenzey close behind her until they reached the Great Hall. Breathing frantically, Ruby-Jane yelled "I won!" and entered the Hall.

"That's not fair, you had a head start!" Mackenzey exclaimed, coming up behind Ruby.

"Life's not fair, Kenz. And I so didn't!"

"Ergh, whatever. There are more important things, like food!"

They sat down together on the bench and each grabbed a slice of toast. "I wonder how Kerris is doing. And Troy?"

"Why?" Ruby-Jane asked.

"Well, Kerris is the only one out of the seven of us who isn't with someone else, and Troy's the only first year Slytherin girl,"

"Mm, I suppose… But they'll be fine once they settle in,"

"You think?"

"Yeah. Plus Hunter's got to share his dorm with all those dorks over there," Ruby waved over at the Slytherin table. "I think Pete and Chris got it best though,"

"Yeah, and at least we got each other,"

"Yay!"

"Shut up, Rubes," Mackenzey said, grabbing another piece of toast.

Ruby stuck her tongue out. "Make me,"

"I'd rather not," Mackenzey didn't look amused.

"Okay, let's not argue,"

"Deal!" They shook hands to seal the deal and were soon joined by Chantelle Clifton.

"Have you met that troll?" She asked, taking three slices of toast and a muffin and placing them on her plate.

"What troll?" Mackenzey asked, confused.

"Abigail Harris!"

"Ooh," Comprehension dawned on both girls' faces. "Yeah, why?"

"I don't know how I'm going to live with her! She snores, she leaves her clothes everywhere, she doesn't wear makeup, her skin is so greasy and she doesn't flush the loo!"

"Vain much?" Ruby-Jane muttered to Mackenzey.

"Well, maybe talk to her about it?" Mackenzey suggested.

"Ha! Like you could talk to her! She's so primitive I doubt she even speaks English!"

"Snotty much, too?" Mackenzey muttered back to Ruby-Jane.

"So, tell us about yourself?" Mackenzey asked Chantelle. Ruby-Jane elbowed her sharply in the ribs.

"What did you do that for, you dolt! That's all she needs, an invitation to talk about herself!" Ruby-Jane hissed at Mackenzey on the pretence of picking up some toast she had dropped.

"Sorry," Mackenzey shrugged.

"Well, I'm an only child…"

"That explains a lot," Mackenzey disguised her laugh as a cough and Ruby-Jane looked on amused.

"… And I'm a half blood. Daddy's a pureblood, and you should see his vaults at Gringotts! They're full, and I've got one all to myself…"

"Vaults?" Mackenzey mouthed to Ruby-Jane, shocked.

"… When Daddy says I'm old enough I actually get the key to the vault and he'll let me spend it on anything I want. I mean, once the key's mine he can't stop me, can he?" She paused and looked at the girls in front of her.

"Err, no?" Ruby-Jane answered hesitantly.

"Exactly… So, as I was saying, my mum is a really popular muggle model, she's so pretty, and she says I take after her… So hopefully I'll get into modelling or something when I'm qualified. It's not like I need the money… But it's a good job to be in, lots of respect… And there's no doubt I'll make it… After all, just look at me," she giggled a high pitched whine and Mackenzey winced.

Thankfully that's when Professor Sprout came down the table handing out timetables and Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane grabbed theirs eagerly.

"Whoop! Charms first, with the Ravenclaws!"

"Yeah, but look, second is Herbology with the Slytherins," Ruby-Jane reminded Mackenzey.

"Well, at least we can sit with Troy and Hunter, best of both worlds," Mackenzey grinned.

"As long as I am no one where near those loons Avery, Mulciber, Wilkes and Rosier, I'll be fine," Ruby-Jane said seriously.

Mackenzey laughed. "I think we can manage that,"

"Maybe we better set off now, so we don't arrive late 'cause we have no idea where we're going…"

"Good idea… Chantelle, you coming?"

Ruby-Jane groaned.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let me just finish this…" As Chantelle stood up she grabbed another couple of pieces of toast and an apple. Ruby-Jane looked at her in disgust.

"If you insist on being nice to her all the time, don't expect me to hang around with you for long periods of time," Ruby-Jane said quietly to Mackenzey as they left the Great Hall.

"Point taken," Mackenzey replied.

Ten minutes later the three Hufflepuffs were totally and completely lost. Spotting a prefect at the end of the corridor they ran towards him and were relieved to see he was a Hufflepuff.

"We're lost," Ruby-Jane stated, unnecessarily.

"We've got Charms," Mackenzey told the prefect, before he had to ask.

He smiled at them. "Follow me," He led them down the corridor, down a couple of floors and down another corridor.

"Here you are,"

"Man, we were lost!"

The three girls thanked the prefect and walked into the room to find people with wands out pointing them at feathers with looks of extreme concentration on their faces.

"There you are!" Kerris beckoned them over. She was sat next to Abigail Harris, who, by the looks of it, had being annoying the hell out of Kerris too.

Mackenzey sat next to Kerris, and Ruby-Jane sat down on the other side of Mackenzey, forcing Chantelle to take the seat next to Abigail. Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane ignored Chantelle's protest and instead asked Kerris how it was in Ravenclaw.

"It's all right, I guess. Those twits Ireland and Jacob are rather irritating though," She nodded her head in the direction of Ireland and Jacob. "And they don't shut up, seriously!"

"We know the feeling," Ruby-Jane grinned, looking at Chantelle.

They spent the rest of the lesson trying to levitate the feathers, and by the end of the lesson Ruby-Jane and Kerris had succeed in levitating their feathers to eye height, and Mackenzey had made her feather twitch.

"I had a feeling Charms wasn't going to be my best subject," she grinned, walking out of the room.

"I think I'll be okay," Kerris said, apparently relieved.

Mackenzey slung an arm round her shoulder. "Honey, you were put in Ravenclaw for a reason,"

"Yeah, you're smart, we figured that before you were even sorted into Ravenclaw," Ruby-Jane added. "You'll have no trouble with any of the subjects,"

"I hope you're right,"

"Darling, we're always right," Mackenzey winked, causing all three girls to laugh.

"Anyhow, I have Defence Against The Dark Arts with the Gryffindors, so I better go," Kerris said, bidding the Hufflepuffs goodbye and heading in the opposite direction.

The four Hufflepuff girls walked down to the greenhouses together.

"At least you can't get lost finding this one," Chantelle commented.

"Yeah," Ruby-Jane agreed. "Pretty annoying if you don't like Herbology,"

The Hufflepuffs entered Greenhouse Two to find the Slytherins already in there. Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane immediately headed to where Troy and Hunter were sitting on a table of six.

"We saved this table for the other two as well, didn't want them to have to put up with Avery and co." Hunter said, waving at Chantelle and Abigail to come over.

"Fair point," Ruby-Jane said, obviously irritated by the other girls already and choosing the seat next to Troy. Mackenzey sat next to Hunter (her conversation with Ruby-Jane that morning still fresh in her mind), and, correctly interpreting Ruby-Jane's direct look, invited Chantelle to sit next to her.

For the next hour the first years had fun discussing the properties and uses of different plants. Flicking through One Thousand Magical Herb and Fungi Mackenzey sighed.

"I don't think I'm going to get this lesson either,"

"We'll help you, Kenz, you know that,"

"There's only so much you can do!"

"You'll be fine, Kenz! You're smarter than you think," Hunter told her, and she blushed slightly.

Ruby-Jane smiled. "Kenz, it's only the first day. If you don't get it, no one is going to blame you…"

"But you and Kerris managed to levitate your feathers in Charms, and I didn't…"

"Maybe we just grasped it quicker, it doesn't make you less smart."

"Come on, it's break, let's go," The four friends left Chantelle and Abigail and climbed the slopes up to the castle and found Chris, Peter and Kerris is the Transfiguration Courtyard.

"How was Defence Against The Dark Arts?" Mackenzey asked, sitting next to Kerris.

"Pretty good, Professor Giddle showed us some useful defence spells, but we haven't practised any yet," Kerris answered. "Herbology?"

"Yeah, it was all right. I was worried I wouldn't get it, but the others convinced me I'd be fine," Mackenzey looked doubtful still.

"I can't really say. I haven't known you that long…"

"That's all right, Kerris, I wouldn't be any more or less convinced if you'd said the same thing as that lot any way," she indicated Hunter, Troy and Ruby-Jane.

Meanwhile Ruby-Jane, Hunter and Troy had joined Chris and Peter sitting with James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

"Ergh, History of Magic next." James Potter said.

"What's wrong with it?" Chris asked.

"It's booorrrriiiinnnnggg," Sirius Black replied.

"Yeah, I've heard from Alixx and Jack what it is… And man, I'd drop it now if I could," Ruby-Jane added.

"That bad?" Chris winced.

"Yup. And worse," Troy answered.

"But you'll be with us!" James said in mock excitement.

"Yay! I can't hardly contain my excitement!" Remus Lupin commented dryly. Troy laughed.

"Hi, I'm Troy Blue, by the way,"

"Remus Lupin," They left the group slightly.

Ruby-Jane grinned at them. "I think a certain two people are going to get on very well,"

"Eww,"

"You're such a boy!"

"Well, duh!"

"Immature at that, too,"

James pretended to sulk.

"Hey, I'm not apologising. Truth hurts my friend,"

Sirius laughed. "She'll put you in your place, James,"

"In her dreams!" he responded childishly.

"Eh, I have better things to be doing with my time anyway," Ruby-Jane said.

"Like what, exactly?" Peter asked her.

"Well, anything," Ruby-Jane grinned back.

"Hey!"

"Grow up, James," Remus told him.

"Sheesh! What do I have to do to get a bit of respect round here?"

"Grow up," Ruby-Jane and Sirius said in unison.

"Talking of another two people who will get on very well," Hunter laughed.

"Shove it, Hunter,"

He held up his hands. "Truth hurts my friend,"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You're such a dolt,"

"Thank you," Hunter bowed to her.

Peter laughed. "You couldn't tell you two had known each other for ten years already,"

"Ten years?!" Sirius asked, incredulous.

"Yeah… Mine and Peter's parents went to school with Mackenzey's mum, Troy's parents and Hunter's granddad knew our grandmother before she died, so we all grew up together," Ruby-Jane explained.

"Wow, I better get some practise in," Sirius said. "Hello there, I am Sirius Black, and you are?" Sirius extended his hand to Ruby-Jane and she took it.

"Ruby-Jane Pettigrew," She told him.

"Delighted to make your acquaintance, Ruby-Jane,"

She laughed lightly.

"Okay, before Sirius floods the school with his drool, we'd better get to History of Magic,"

Sirius looked up. "I can't believe you just said that,"

James looked confused.

"Why would we want to get to History of Magic? On time?"

James shrugged.

"What we do is wait until a teacher comes along to hurry us along as the bell goes, and then we spend the next half of the lesson trying to find the classroom…"

Ruby-Jane laughed and rolled her eyes as Remus looked at him disapprovingly. Since it was actually time for the next lesson, Hunter, Troy and Kerris had left for Transfiguration together and Remus and Mackenzey had come over

"No, we don't. We leave now," Remus said. Everyone but Sirius started to move off. "Come on, Sirius!"

"No, don't want to!" He pouted.

"Go," Ruby-Jane told Remus. "I'll get him,"

Remus nodded, obviously torn, but turned and left after the others.

"Come on, Sirius, you're being a little immature, and I don't like immature boys,"

Sirius looked up. "You don't?"

"No. To be honest, not many girls, people, do,"

"Oh, all right then," He wrapped his arm round her middle and gave her a squeeze. Ruby-Jane smirked.

"This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, I feel," Sirius sighed.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes," Sirius declared. "And I'm always right,"

Ruby-Jane laughed openly, evidently disbelieving. Sirius put on a hurt expression.

"Well, we'll see," Ruby-Jane told him, just as they reached the classroom. Remus was waiting outside for them.

"Wow, you did get him here," Remus said in surprise.

"Never doubt a woman," Ruby paused. "Or just me," she grinned.

"But why is his arm wrapped round your waist?"

"He gave me a hug, problem?"

"Oh, here I was thinking you were interested in me, I'm heartbroken!"

Ruby-Jane blushed. "It's just a friendly hug," But all the same she moved away from Sirius slightly.

"Come on, lesson!" Sirius reminded them. They entered the classroom together and quickly hurried to the seats James, Peter, Mackenzey and Chris had saved them at the back of the room. Sirius and Ruby-Jane took the seats behind James and Peter and next to Mackenzey and Chris, whilst Remus sat next to Frank Longbottom on the other side of James. Professor Binns didn't even notice.

By the end of the lesson even Remus was wishing he hadn't insisted they'd come to History of Magic.

"That was the most boring thing I have ever had to sit through!" James complained as they walked to their next lesson, Transfiguration, which they also had together.

"Seriously, half way through I was wishing for Merlin to come down from the Heavens and kill me then!" Sirius said dramatically. Ruby-Jane said nothing to this, and both Sirius and Remus had noticed her seem a bit more detached to Sirius since Remus had teased her.

"Oh, for God's sake, it was not that bad!" Lily Evans, the red head, replied.

"Lily, please," Alice Prewett gave Lily a look. "You were nearly falling asleep too, I saw you!"

Lily blushed. "Oh, all right then, it was horrible! But not enough to make you wish you were dead," she finished, looking at Sirius.

"I was exaggerating!"

"You do that a lot, I notice," Lily said, dryly.

"Okay, please just stop!" Mackenzey intervened, looking between the Gryffindors. "What do you reckon Transfiguration will be like?"

"Pretty good, I reckon," Frank Longbottom said, looking eager.

"Interesting," Remus added.

"Fun! Both my parents had a knack for Transfiguration," James said, seeing the odd looks he was getting from the rest of the group.

They lined up outside the Transfiguration classroom and a minute later McGonagall let them into the room.

This time Alice and Lily sat together again, but Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane sat together to the side of James and Sirius, Remus and Peter took the table in front of James and Sirius and Frank sat with Chris in front of Mackenzey and Ruby.

McGonagall stood at the front of the class and all chatter stopped. "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned,"

There was a quiet murmur after these words. "Quiet please. I am about to show you a complex transformation. Watch carefully," She raised her wand and suddenly the desk in front of her was, well, a pig

"Wow!" Peter was openly admiring.

"Awesome!" Alice Prewett was equally excited.

McGonagall turned the desk back and then told them they wouldn't be doing that sort of complex magic for years yet, but it was something to look forward to. They spent the rest of the lesson trying to turn a pin into a matchstick. By the end of the lesson James, Lily, Remus, Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey had all successfully accomplished it, Sirius, Chris, Alice and Frank had all turned their pins into pointy matchsticks and Peter's matchstick was silver but still a matchstick (a degree of success).

"See, Kenz, you're pretty good at Transfiguration,"

"But you're good at Transfiguration and Charms," Mackenzey replied.

"And I bet I'll be a danger in Potions,"

Mackenzey laughed. "We'll see,"

Sirius came up to the girls. "So how'd you find Transfiguration then, girlies?"

"Pretty good, actually. I actually managed to turn the pin into a matchstick!" Mackenzey replied enthusiastically.

"Ruby-Jane?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It was good," Ruby replied distractedly. "Sorry, I'm just…"

"Away with the fairies," Mackenzey finished, grinning at Sirius. "Don't worry about it," she told him.

Sirius stuck his thumb up in reply, and then fell back to talk to James, Remus and Peter. Frank was walking with Alice, Chris and Lily.

"Hey, Rubes, what's up?" Mackenzey asked her. "You've gone all quiet, and earlier you were getting on with Sirius real well,"

"I just… I told him I didn't like immature boys and he said really? And that's how I made him get to History of Magic, and he gave me a hug and still had his arm round me when we met Remus outside the classroom and Remus teased me saying he thought he was the one I wanted, and it made me think, and I think I'm starting to fall for him, Kenz, and it scares me!"

"Who, Remus?" Mackenzey asked, confused.

"No, Sirius!" Ruby-Jane hissed back.

"Ooh, right. You've known him a day!"

"I know! That's what scares me! I don't know anything about him, but I feel this connection… You know those magical ones the 'rents were always on about? Best friends for life, yadda, yadda, yadda… I just don't feel old enough, and it's pretty scary feeling like this now and about a guy I've just met…"

"It'll be okay," Mackenzey reassured her, giving her a one armed hug. "But you can't give him the cold shoulder! Poor boy doesn't even know what he's done. All he knows is that one of his new friends is being like an ice queen to him,"

"Really? I was that bad?" Ruby-Jane winced.

"Really, now go apologise!"

Ruby-Jane thanked her, and fell back in step with Sirius as Mackenzey joined Frank, Alice, Lily and Chris.

"Hey, Sirius, can I talk to you?" Ruby asked.

"Sure," he replied, surprised.

James feigned hurt. "Can I come?"

Ruby-Jane looked at him. "No," she said shortly.

"Whoa, wrong time of the month for this girly," he said, shaking his head.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You really need to grow up, James,"

He held up his hands. "All right! I'm sorry, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled at him. "I'm sorry, too,"

"Apology accepted,"

Sirius cleared his throat. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah," she looked round, "In private,"

The two walked out into the grounds and down by the lake as it was lunch.

"I wanted to apologise for being kind of… Off with you earlier," she started. "Just what Remus said, it scared me, 'cause I think… I think I'm starting to fall for you."

Before Sirius could say anything, she continued, "I'm not saying that I don't want to not fall for you, but I've known you, what a day? And I'm eleven for Christ's sake; I'm not ready for any kind of relationship! Plus I think we have the potential to be really good friends, and I'm not going to ruin that by secretly falling in love with you. It's more the type of falling for that happens in those magical bond things?" Ruby half questioned, not knowing if Sirius was aware of them.

"I agree, we're eleven, not ready for any kind of relationship,"

"Good. It's just I feel this connection, and that scares me, but the more that's out in the open the less there's left to hide, which is good, right?"

"I think so…"

"I'm sorry, am I scaring you?"

"No…" Sirius replied honestly. "I feel that connection thing too, actually. And when I first saw you when you came over to talk to Chris and Pete, you took my breath away. But, as you said, we're eleven, and I, for one, am definitely not ready, in any way, to have a relationship. Plus, those bonds aren't just made for couples. We could just become brother and sister," he grinned.

Ruby grinned back. "So, friends?"

"Best friends?"

"Sirius!"

"Ruby-Jane!" Sirius whined.

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, RJ, loosen up," Sirius grinned.

"I'll give you loosened up!" Ruby-Jane threatened.

"No, thank you!"

Ruby-Jane laughed. "Well, now that's sorted…"

"Lunch?" Sirius suggested.

"Duh! Race you?" She set off on a head start.

"RJ! RJ, that's not fair! Ruby-Jane Pettigrew, get your butt back here now, so I can race you fairly! Oh, whatever!" Sirius yelled at her, running after her only when he realised she wasn't coming back. "Bloody women!" Sirius growled. "Can't live with them, can't live without them!"

Back in the Great Hall, Ruby-Jane dashed in, closely followed by Sirius. Seeing their friends all sitting at the Gryffindor table, Ruby-Jane casually walked over, Sirius yelling obscenities at her from behind.

"Mr Black, please!" McGonagall said, as she passed Sirius on her way to the staff table.

"Sorry, Professor," he replied, sheepishly, glaring at Ruby-Jane as she laughed openly.

"Revenge will be sweet," he told her, as he sat down next to her.

"What's all this about?" The two new arrivals had received the attention of the other first years.

"Ruby-Jane Pettigrew is a cheater," Sirius declared.

"No, he's just too stupid to run after me when I say race you to the castle," Ruby-Jane corrected, rolling her eyes.

"Because you started running before you even finished the sentence!" Sirius roared, earning himself another look from McGonagall. He waved at her from the Gryffindor table, before turning to face Ruby.

"Then you should have just run after me," Ruby replied, "Like a normal person,"

"I don't like you,"

Ruby smirked. "You do, and you can't help it,"

"So, I do, get over it,"

The others round the table were giving each other confused looks. What were they going on about?

"Care to explain this one?" James asked hopefully.

"Nope," Ruby-Jane and Sirius replied together.

"Damn," Remus said, "I've obviously seriously misjudged their intelligence. I thought they'd not even notice that…"

Everyone gave him an odd look. "Never mind," he muttered.

The Hufflepuff's last lesson of the day was Potions with the Ravenclaws. It was just their luck that their first day was also their longest.

As the desks were in groups of four, Mackenzey, Ruby-Jane and Kerris grabbed one, and both Chantelle and Abigail sat with Sally Ireland and Christie Jacob. The three Hufflepuff boys Brian Fairfield, Andrew MacMillan and John McKay sat together on one side of the room, and the four Ravenclaw boys (Bertram Aubrey, Davey Gudgeon, Warwick Oliver and Joseph Stebbins) sat on the other.

Professor Slughorn welcomed the class and spent the next ten minutes explaining how Potions was useful and necessary and he explained about the different types, and by the end of the talk most of the class was ready to fall asleep. However, for the remainder of the lesson, the class researched different potions and their properties and had to decide on how useful they were based on their ingredients (which served no real purpose except to research what went in each potion). They then had to decide in groups which two potions they would prefer to make, as the next lesson they would be making a start on some of the simpler concoctions.

"I think we should do the Boil-Cure Potion," Mackenzey was saying as they left the classroom.

"It is simple…" Kerris agreed.

"Yeah, and the Forgetfulness Potion seems to be challenging, surely that'll get us points with the teacher…" Ruby-Jane grinned.

"What about the Swelling Solution?"

"Mm, second year work, I think. We could ask,"

"We could just stick with the Boil-Cure Potion and the Forgetfulness Potion?" Kerris asked.

"Okay, sure,"

The three girls stopped walking to high five each other. They only walked on when some older students rudely pushed through them even though they were standing to the side of a wide corridor.

"Rubes?"

"Yeah?"

"What did you and Sirius talk about earlier?"

"Yeah, you were acting a bit weird at lunch, actually,"

Ruby-Jane looked at them. "It was nothing, really. We're fine, don't worry about it."

"If it's nothing, what do we have to worry about?" Kerris asked.

"Just leave it, it's between me and Sirius, okay?" Ruby-Jane snapped.

"Okay!" Mackenzey looked at Kerris. Since when was Ruby-Jane this irritable?

"Okay, one more thing," Mackenzey asked. "Did you tell him what you told me?"

Ruby stopped, and turned to Mackenzey. "Yeah, I did,"

"How'd he take it?"

"Fine, now can we not talk about it? It's over, finished, done, complete, finito…"

"We get it, Rubes!" Mackenzey stopped her.

"I'm sorry, I just don't want to talk about it,"

The conversation moved on, and the girls soon found themselves sat at the Gryffindor table again.

"Aren't there rules about where you sit?" Chris asked.

"I'm not sure," Troy answered.

"Ahh well, no one's complained about it yet," Hunter said.

"True…" Ruby agreed.

"Who cares anyway?" Mackenzey added.

The others shrugged.

"James, pass us the potatoes, please," Remus asked, from the other side of Troy.

James passed the potatoes down past Sirius, Ruby-Jane and Troy to Remus, who was also sitting next to Mackenzey (who was sitting next to Hunter). Peter was sitting opposite James next to Chris who was sitting next to Kerris who had sat next to Lily who sat next to Alice who was sitting with Frank.

"Cheers," Remus called down the table.

"No worries," was James' reply.

"So, Lily, how's Snape?" Sirius asked her with feigned interest.

"None of your business, Black," she snapped back.

"Ooh, Evans, I'm hurt,"

"Good,"

"Hey, Evans, no need to be so harsh," Ruby-Jane said from across the table. Mackenzey looked up; there'd better not be trouble…

"Ha! Have you met the boy?" Evans asked.

"I have, I'm sitting next to him, you dolt. And I happen to like him,"

"More fool you," Evans muttered.

"I'd never have thought you such a bitch, Evans," Troy said.

"Okay, stop the verbal attack; this isn't even your table!" Alice said.

"Excuse me, but Evans started it," Troy said.

"I did not!" Evans objected.

"Hey, all I did was ask you how Snape was," Sirius said. "So, yes, you did,"

Evans rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself, Black, not everyone likes you,"

"I know, Evans. Try having a family like mine, and then you might actually understand what you're talking about," Sirius stood up, having lost his appetite and left the Great Hall. Soon after, James, Remus and Peter left, followed by Ruby-Jane, who Troy, Mackenzey and Hunter went after.

"Hmm," Chris said.

"Hmm?" Kerris asked.

"I wonder what that's about,"

"Just Black being a drama queen, no doubt," Evans said spitefully.

"Hey! Just 'cause you don't like him, Evans, doesn't mean we don't," And Frank and Chris left the hall too.

Kerris gave Lily a smile. "It'll all calm down in the morning," she said.

"Not while Black's still got breathe in his body," Lily muttered.

"Okay, Lily," Alice said seriously, "He hasn't done anything to you and you've known him a day! Will you stop being so bitchy and unfair? Every Black I know has been in Slytherin, and by Black being in Gryffindor, well that's bound to cause some trouble… So give him a break,"

Lily looked at Alice in surprise. "I guess you're right,"

"Apologise," Alice said sternly.

"Yes, Mum," Lily grinned.

"Come on, now!" Alice, Lily and Kerris left the hall together, and went to the Gryffindor common room (in this story they can go in different common rooms!).

Once inside they found the other ten friends sitting by the fire. They approached them, and when Sirius saw Lily he scowled.

"Black, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I said, and I apologise," Lily said, meaning every word.

"Apology accepted," Sirius said seriously.

"But this doesn't mean I like you. I will tolerate you, as long as you don't irritate me too much,"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sirius saluted her.

"In that case," Ruby-Jane spoke up, "I apologise to you, Evans,"

Lily nodded her acceptance.

"And me," Troy added grudgingly.

Knowing this is the most she would get from Troy, Lily nodded again.

"So, everyone's good now then?" Mackenzey asked, relieved.

Everyone nodded, happy that Lily had apologised, and they spent the next couple of hours playing exploding snap and wizard's chess. There were a variety of winners (although Lily did not seem to play against anyone she had insulted) when it was time for the people from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin to go back to their dorms.

"Night all!" Mackenzey called as she left with Ruby-Jane, Troy, Hunter and Kerris. They received a quarry of "nights" back before the Fat Lady shut behind them.

"So, what do we think of Miss Evans then?" Hunter asked them, grinning.

"Well, I don't think James, Remus and Peter were amused by what she said, never mind me." Ruby-Jane replied.

"Will you hold it against her?" Mackenzey asked.

"It depends how she acts now…"

"Very protective, aren't we," Troy commented, a rare grin on her face.

"We get on, that's all there is to it," Ruby-Jane replied. "And you know I'd never lie to you,"

"True, true,"

They reached the Entrance Hall where Kerris would go off to the Ravenclaw Tower, the Slytherins down to the dungeon and Hufflepuffs down to the cellar.

"Well, night you lot," Troy said, waving.

"Niiiggghhhttt," Mackenzey replied.

"Breakfast together? Gryffindor table?"

"Yeah, see you there!"

"Eight?"

"Fine by us!"

"Sweet dreams!"

"You too!"

And they all separated into their different houses for the night.

"Hmm," said Ruby-Jane, "I think we might actually manage to keep these friendships,"

"You shouldn't have doubted us," Mackenzey said, shaking her head.

"No, I shouldn't,"

They both brushed their teeth and washed their faces. They returned to the bedroom and climbed into bed.

"Well, that was day one at Hogwarts," Mackenzey sighed.

"Yeahh… Eventful."

"Just a bit," Mackenzey laughed.

"I wonder what the rest will bring…"

"Time will tell,"

"Indeed,"

"Night, Rubes,"

"Night, Kenz,"

 _A/N: If you think I've written too much with one character or feel one's out of place from chapter one, tell me! And if anyone has a better ending, I would so glad to hear it!_


	3. Time Flies By

_A/N: Thursday again! Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. :)._

Time Flies By

The first term flew by quickly. Remus, of course, went off to visit his sick mother once a month and nobody questioned it.

By Halloween the first years had made their good friends. The seven (Ruby-Jane, Mackenzey, Peter, Troy, Hunter, Chris and Kerris) were obviously still great friends, although they didn't hang out in such a group most of the time.

Peter was brilliant and best friends with James, Sirius and Remus, whereas Chris got on best with Frank and Peter. It wasn't that he didn't like the other boys; they just didn't fulfil his intellectual needs.

Kerris was getting on all right alone in Ravenclaw, often seen talking to Ruby-Jane and Peter's sister Alixx, and her friends, when she wasn't in another common room with the other first years.

Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey managed to put up with Abigail and Chantelle the majority of the time, mostly in lessons, but the other girls seemed to be getting on all right, after the initial first impression.

Troy was happy enough being the only girl in Slytherin. No ditties around to be, well, ditties. And Hunter was doing fine, ignoring the rest of his dorm. Hunter and Troy tried to hang out as long as possible when they had to be in Slytherin, just the two of them. There was no one else worth getting to know.

Halloween was approaching, tomorrow! And all the first years were excited. Their first Halloween at Hogwarts!

"Candy, candy, candy!" Sirius chanted, as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs walked to their last class of the day, Transfiguration.

"Shut up, Sirius!"

"No, can't make me!" Sirius pouted.

Seconds later, four jets of red light hit him, and Sirius couldn't utter a sound.

James smirked. "Me, Remus, Pete and Ruby?" he counted.

"Yep," Remus replied, eyeing the group.

"Why is Sirius madly waving at me, and pointing at his mouth?" Frank came up to them, glancing at Sirius warily.

"He wouldn't shut up about candy, so we put a silencing spell on him," Remus explained.

"Ooooh right," Frank laughed.

Alice, who was with Frank, also laughed. Lily, beside her, rolled her eyes.

"Typical," she muttered, earning glares from the majority of the group. She held up her hands. "All right! I'm sorry! But seriously! You have to admit he's immature at the best of times!"

Ruby-Jane gave her a cold glare. "And you're too prude, but we still hang around with you," She gave a cold smile to go with the glare.

"Because I'm begging you to," Lily snapped back sarcastically.

"GIRLS!" Mackenzey stepped between them. "Learn to get on, already! It's getting old!"

Sirius sighed. "C'mon Rubes, she's not worth it," he whispered to her, casually slinging his arm round her shoulders. Ruby-Jane grinned.

"Neither are you," she giggled, dodging round Remus, Peter and Alice so Sirius couldn't get her back.

Sirius mock glared at her but his reply was cut off.

"How do you know silencing charms anyway?" Alice asked curiously. "Don't we get taught them for OWLS or something?"

"Our parents wanted us to have basic skills," Ruby shrugged. "Being able to silence people was apparently one of those skills,

"And Pete taught us 'cause we were curious," James explained. "Anything to have one over on the Slytherins,"

Again, Lily rolled her eyes.

"Speaking of the Slytherins, who's up for a prank at Halloween then?" James asked glancing around the group.

"What exactly is so special about Halloween that would make your prank more original, Potter?" Lily contemptuously asked him.

"You see, Lily darling, it's Halloween, night of the pranks," James replied, "and that is why it is special,"

"One would think that would be April Fools' Day," Lily contradicted.

"Ah, but April Fools' Day is a day for pranks. They don't count after twelve noon. Halloween is the night for pranks," Remus explained, grinning at the look on Lily's face.

Peter, Remus, Frank and Chris all got on with Lily, but that didn't mean they didn't enjoy tormenting her with James and Sirius. James and Sirius didn't like Lily much, but as their dislike was equally matched with her dislike of them they weren't bothered.

"What kind of prank should we do?" Peter asked.

"A good one!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Are you trying to imply not all of our pranks are good?" James asked incredulously.

"Truth hurts, James," Ruby-Jane laughed.

"It hurts bad," James declared dramatically.

"Drama queen," Frank muttered, grinning.

"Queen sounds about right, actually," Chris added.

"You're confirming that? I thought it was just a rumour," Alice looked serious.

"Rumour? What rumour?" James looked seriously offended and anxious about this supposed rumour.

"I've heard it too," Mackenzey said. "Something about James Potter being a girl, but wanting to be a guy so is trying to trick everyone into believing he's actually a guy,"

"What?!" James exploded.

Everyone, bar Lily, burst into laughter.

"Nice one, Kenz," Alice grinned, high-fiving her.

"Yeah, nice touch with the rumour, Al," Chris laughed.

"Wouldn't have worked without your comment, Chris," Frank said.

James looked confused, so Lily found it in her heart to tell him they were having him on.

"I'm going to kill each and every one of you, one by one, in the most painful way possible," James threatened.

"Please don't," Lily said dryly, "That'd mean I'd have no friends left and I'd have to hang out with you all the time,"

"Okay, I take it back. I'll kill you all after we're out of Hogwarts!" James looked horrified at the thought of only having Lily for company for the next seven years.

They all laughed again, even Lily.

"We'll talk about the prank after Transfiguration, and we'll get Kerris, Hunter and Troy to help too!" James whispered to the group as they entered Professor McGonagall's classroom. The majority of the group nodded or stuck up their thumbs in affirmative as they took their respective seats.

They spent the lesson in nervous excitement, waiting for it to end so they could plan the prank. With the exception of Chris, Remus, Frank, Lily and Mackenzey, the first years listened to barely a word Professor McGonagall said. Alice was busy throwing notes to Ruby, who was in turn swapping notes with Sirius and James. Peter was being passed the notes from Alice and Ruby through Sirius so he could pass them back across to Alice. For some reason McGonagall appeared not to notice the disruption in her class, possibly because they were supposed to be working in pairs turning their match into a quill.

By the end of the lesson Remus, Lily and Mackenzey were fed up with their partners and had moved across to Chris and Frank's table to do the spell together, whereas Ruby and Alice moved up to Peter's table so they could sit with Sirius, Peter and James, who had all already turned their match into a quill once and didn't feel the need to do it again.

The bell rang indicating the end of the lesson, and the two groups of five left the classroom together.

"Right, let's get down to business," Sirius clapped his hands excitedly.

"Kenz and I will go find Hunter and Troy," Ruby-Jane suggested.

"Us too…" Peter and Sirius made to go after the Hufflepuffs, but Ruby turned back.

"They hate Gryffindors, remember? Probably not a good idea," she grinned.

"Makes sense…" Peter laughed back. "Me and Chris will go find Kerris then, and we'll meet you back in the Gryffindor common room?"

The other first years agreed and they separated.

"Where do you think we can find Kerris?"

"What lesson did she have?"

"I can't remember…"

"We could always go wait near the Ravenclaw common room, and even if we don't see her we could ask someone else,"

"Okay," Peter agreed.

The two boys set off together up towards the Ravenclaw Tower. After waiting for Kerris for nearly fifteen minutes they realised she would have probably not left the sanctuary of her friends, and therefore would not be returning to the Ravenclaw Tower. Quickly they left the Tower and hurried to Gryffindor Tower, where Ruby-Jane, Mackenzey, Hunter, Troy and Kerris had not arrived yet. They sighed, and quickly explained to Chris, Frank and Peter why they had not brought Kerris back with them, as James and Sirius enthusiastically planned their prank, completely unaware of anything else around them.

Not long after the boys returned Remus appeared from the boys' dorm, clutching a quill and some parchment.

"Pranking supplies," he said sheepishly, holding up his hands.

Chris laughed and moved up the sofa he was sitting on to make room for Remus.

As Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey tumbled through the portrait hole, followed by a giggling Kerris, an amused Hunter and a sardonic looking Troy, Alice and Lily came over from the group of second year girls they were talking to and the six girls and Hunter sat themselves randomly around the rapidly growing circle collecting in the Gryffindor common room.

"Let's get down to business," Sirius said, earning himself a few weird looks from the group. "Oh, get over it. Think, damn it, think!"

"Is he talking to us or himself?" Mackenzey mock nervously asked, leaning over to whisper to the other girls. She leaned back and looked to the centre of the circle again, only to jump violently as she found Sirius' face… there.

"Both," he told her, before settling back into his place.

She laughed.

"All right, everybody, brainstorm," James looked round the group. Silence fell as everyone pondered over what would make the perfect prank.

Half an hour later the parchment Remus had brought down had been well used. Unfortunately little more than a third was useful suggestions for pranks.

Peter and Frank were playing hangman on one sheet, the girls were all playing hangman on another and Chris and Remus had given up trying to scribble down (mostly Sirius') suggestions as they were just getting stupider.

"Floating confetti!?" Sirius exclaimed.

"What good is floating confetti?" Lily interrupted, looking up from her enticing game of hangman.

"What kind of prank is floating confetti?" Ruby-Jane also looked up.

Sirius was lost for words. At least concerning the questions. "Music that never stops? Teddy bears that never let go? Permanent acne?

"Stupid, stupid and ergh!" Mackenzey offered her input.

"This is ridiculous!" James exclaimed over Sirius, who was still reeling off prank ideas.

"It should not be this hard!" Remus agreed.

"Come on, there are, what, thirteen of us here, and we can't think of a single good prank?" James asked, looking incredulous.

"Apparently not," Ruby-Jane remarked dryly.

"Maybe we should just give up?" Lily suggested looking hopeful.

"No way!" Sirius had finally given up with his list of pranks. "Determination, Evans!"

"I thought she already had enough determination," Alice commented to Frank.

Frank grinned.

"Okay, we need to look at this from another perspective," Hunter said.

"What?" Sirius looked befuddled.

Ruby-Jane rolled her eyes at him. "He means we have to look at it with fresh eyes, so we can come up with something better,"

"At this point in time, anything would be better," Remus added.

"I reckon it should definitely be on the Slytherins," Troy said, ignoring the weird looks some of the Gryffindors were giving her.

"But, you're in Slytherin," James pointed out.

"I know that, dummy, doesn't mean I like the dolts," Some of the group flinched at her language.

"She's always been a bit on the generous side with swearing," Mackenzey laughed slightly.

"Understatement," Peter muttered, swatting Troy right back as she punched him not so lightly on his arm.

"Anyway…" Chris intervened.

"Okay, so Slytherins it is then," Sirius confirmed.

"Especially that greasy little Snape,"

Lily scowled. "He is not greasy!" she defended the absent boy furiously.

"Are we talking about the same Snape here?" James asked, as Sirius said "Ooh, has somebody got a crush? On Snivellus no less,"

"Yes, I do believe we are talking about the same Snape, and no, I do not have a crush on him," Lily snapped. "And don't call him Snivellus!"

"Snivelly?" Sirius offered.

"NO!" Lily roared, her eyes flashing.

"Looks like we need a new nickname for Snapey, boys," Sirius told his friends.

"Sirius, leave it," Ruby-Jane said firmly.

Sirius shrugged. "Sorry for insulting your boyfriend, Evans,"

Lily got half way through saying Snape wasn't her boyfriend before realising it was a fruitless effort and fell silent.

Alice patted her on the back. "They'll learn one day," she said reassuringly.

Lily snorted and ignored the cool glance Ruby-Jane sent her way.

Finally the group settled down again, and another hour later it was time for dinner. They had come no further with their perfect prank, and all were slightly edgy as they went down to the Great Hall.

"Halloween is tomorrow, and we haven't got anything!" Sirius complained.

"We will have, by tomorrow!" James answered determinedly.

"Only if we can learn to work together," Remus said, joining their conversation.

"Well, the majority of us do," Peter replied.

"Yeah, it's just Evans, and me, Sirius and Ruby who don't get on,"

"What's that?" Ruby slid up the bench.

"Just who doesn't get on," Remus said, sliding up more so Ruby could comfortably sit with the boys.

"Ahh. Am I right in assuming it's me, Sirius and James vs. Evans that's causing the problem?"

"No! Well, yeah," Peter admitted.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "She's a stuck up snob," she started, and as Remus prepared to say something she added, "But I'll try to make friends for the sake of… My other friends, and their sanity," she raised her eyebrow.

"Already there, darlin'," James winked at her.

"But who said you were my friend?" Ruby-Jane replied grinning.

James didn't reply. This might be due to the spoonful of mash potato that had come flying out of nowhere and had landed right on James' face.

Sirius, Remus, Peter and Ruby-Jane cracked up, soon joined by the rest of the Hall as they realised what had happened. As James wiped potato off his face, his cheeks flushed. Standing nervously by him was Abigail Harris, who Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane now noticed seemed to have a crush on James. She was also blushing furiously, and wringing her hands.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it just came off the spoon and went flying, and then soon as it happened it was on your face, and I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," James told her, "It was an accident, I get it,"

Abigail nodded and scuttled back to the Hufflepuff table.

"She's on my hit list," James stated dramatically.

"Abbie?" Mackenzey asked, obviously hearing what James had said. "Oh, come off it, James, it was an accident!"

"Accident my ass!"

"James, you prank her, and we prank you, is that understood?" Ruby-Jane told him.

James looked at her, then Mackenzey and nodded meekly.

"Good,"

"Now that's settled, it's serious chow time," Sirius declared, plunging into the assortment of desserts that had now appeared on the table.

The rest of the table joined in, and soon each had mouthfuls of their favourite pudding.

"I think I'm in heaven," James beamed, wiping cream from round his mouth.

"Yeah, can you imagine what the actual Halloween feast will be like?" Sirius replied, a mouthful of pumpkin pie muffling his speech.

"Even better!" James nodded, shovelling a bite of his own pumpkin pie in his mouth.

Lily looked disgusted at their eating habits.

"Oh, come on, Lils, they're eleven year old boys, what do you expect?" Alice nudged her.

"I guess," Lily sighed, placing a strawberry daintily in her mouth.

"That's the spirit!" Frank said from across the table.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Only because it makes life easier if I don't have to fight with them all the time,"

"How about you just start again?" Alice suggested.

"It'd be the same," Lily replied, "They're not going to change, and neither am I,"

"All right," Alice said, defeated.

"You never know, one day you might be best friends with them," Frank smirked.

Lily looked at him.

"Or not," Frank added, showing Alice his crossed fingers.

Next to them Chris, Kerris, Hunter and Troy had been sitting in a slightly uncomfortable silence. Then Chris had opened up a conversation window and now their conversation was running with fast succession.

"So, what makes them different from normal wolves?" Kerris asked, her Muggleborn heritage becoming painfully obvious.

"They're almost identical to regular wolves, they just differ in appearance by the shape of the snout, the pupils of the eyes and werewolves have a tufted tail," Hunter told her.

"Can you imagine having to go through that every month?" Troy winced, for once willing to openly participate in a conversation she found interesting.

"It supposed to be painful then?" Kerris asked.

"According to Granddad, very," Hunter replied.

"What you talking about?" Mackenzey joined the group's conversation.

"Werewolves," Chris answered.

"Ooh, that's something that's always fascinated me!" Mackenzey exclaimed, gaining the interest of Ruby-Jane, Peter, Sirius, James and Remus.

"What?" James asked intrigued.

"Werewolves," Mackenzey answered him.

Almost at once Remus stood up quickly, almost knocking over a jug of pumpkin juice, and offering a hasty excuse he ran from the room.

"What's barking up his tree?" Alice asked, also joining the middle group.

"I have no idea," Peter replied, looking completely clueless concerning Remus' departure.

"Me either," James added.

"Nor me," Sirius looked slightly concerned.

Lily had to hand it to them, they weren't particularly mature or sensible or trustworthy or even nice, but they did seem to care about their friends very much.

"Well, I think we've all finished here," Frank said, looking round at everyone's empty plates.

"Yeah, who says we go find Remus?" Chris suggested.

A chorus of "Yeah!", "All right!", "Of course!" and a "Well, duh!" from Sirius was the response to that suggestion.

They exited the Hall quickly, scanning all the places Remus could have gone and pairing off. James and Peter would search the most obvious, the Gryffindor boys' dorm, and the grounds, whereas Sirius and Frank would search the ground and first floors.

Alice paired with Mackenzey to search the second floor and the Owlery at the top of the West Tower and Hunter offered to pair with Lily for the third floor and North Tower.

Chris took the fourth and fifth floors with Kerris, leaving Troy and Ruby-Jane to search the sixth and seventh floors and the Astronomy Tower.

They agreed to meet back at the Gryffindor common room half an hour before curfew. If someone found Remus they should respect his wishes, whatever they may be. None of them had any idea what had cause him to run off.

An hour later it was time to head back to Gryffindor Tower, and Alice and Mackenzey had found neither head nor tail of Remus. True, he had little reason to be anywhere near the second floor, or the Owlery, but it was still disappointing and slightly worrisome.

"Hey, Alice, I'm sorry about Ruby-Jane being so… Ruby to Lily,"

"Don't worry about it, Lily gives as good as she gets," Alice laughed.

"I wish they'd just get on though," Mackenzey sighed.

"Lily said she'd do as much at dinner," Alice revealed.

"Really?" Mackenzey said in surprise. "So did Ruby,"

"Well, there we go,"

"Mm. Do you think James and Sirius are half as bad as Lily makes out?"

"Of course not! They like to have fun, admittedly a little more than most, and they're both gifted academically. Combined, that annoys Lils more than anything, since she studies hard and is joint top with them in most lessons despite her hard work and their virtually non-existing effort. They just rub with her personality, though they don't help themselves snubbing Snape like they do,"

Mackenzey laughed. "I do empathise with the boy,"

"Me too." Alice shook her head. "Though I don't see what Lily sees in him,"

"No, but we can't judge, we don't know him, and didn't she grow up with him too?"

"Yes. And I wasn't judging, I just don't think he has much to offer Lily, other than brilliance in Potions,"

"Yeah, but it's her life,"

"I think one day she may grow to regret that," Alice said darkly, as they approached the small group outside Gryffindor.

"Who regret what?" Kerris asked, looking between the girls.

"Oh nothing," Mackenzey said airily, "Just Lily being friends with Snape,"

"Oh, right. Yeah, I agree with you there,"

"He's not so bad," Troy said, shrugging.

"We didn't think or say he was," Alice defended.

"I know, I wasn't trying to imply so," Troy gave Alice a rare smile. Alice smiled back.

"Has anyone seen any of the others?" Ruby-Jane asked.

"We haven't seen any of the others, or Remus," Chris said, indicting himself and Kerris.

"And we didn't see anyone, never mind someone we knew," Mackenzey added.

"Us either," Ruby-Jane said dejectedly.

"No luck?" Hunter asked, as he and Lily appeared.

"Nope," Troy said, shaking her head, "You?"

"No," Lily sighed. "I wonder what made him so upset?"

"Maybe it was just his time of the month?" Hunter suggested, trying to lighten the situation.

A small whisper of laughter went round the group. Moments later James, Peter, Sirius and Frank walked round the corner together.

"No Remus?" Alice asked.

"No," Sirius replied, scanning the group with his eyes for Remus though it was obvious by Alice's question that Remus wasn't there either.

"Is there anywhere we forgot to check?" James asked frantically. Remus was the one who kept cool in situations like these, not James.

"The dorms again?" Chris suggested.

Quickly the twelve piled into the common room and James bounded up the boys staircase. A minute later he came down, shaking his head.

"Okay," Lily said, taking control. "Library?"

"Check," Kerris said.

"Hagrid's Hut?"

"Check," Peter sighed.

"The lake?"

"Again, check,"

"Owlery?"

"Check," Alice said.

"Double check," Mackenzey added.

Lily sighed.

"Kitchens?!" Sirius jumped up from his seat on the sofa, almost punching Lily but for once she didn't seem to mind.

"I didn't even know you knew where they were?" Alice said confused.

"Of course we do!" Sirius exclaimed.

"But why would Remus be there?" Frank asked.

"He wouldn't," Troy replied.

"Why not?" James asked.

"Because he's right there," Troy pointed to Remus who was hovering on the edge of the group.

"Remus!" Peter squeaked.

"Howdy," Remus replied.

"Where have you been?" Sirius demanded.

"Well if James and Pete here had thought to check the common room and not just the dorms, they would have found me sitting by the window doing my Charms essay," Remus commented dryly.

There was a sigh of relief that circled the group.

"And I'm perfectly fine," Remus added, "I just remembered I urgently had to finish my essay,"

As this was a blatant lie nobody believed it, but nobody questioned it either. To be fair if Remus wanted to tell someone what had upset him so, most of them privately thought it wouldn't be to all of his twelve friends.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay, Remus," Troy said sincerely.

"All right, enough sentimentality," Chris said, "Are we doing anything more about the prank?"

"Well, I'm still up for it," Remus said, backed up by Sirius and James' furious nods.

"Okay, well, we need some ideas, and we have less than twenty four hours to perfect it," Peter said.

"Well the majority of us are Gryffindors anyway, so could we just ignore curfew?" Frank asked.

Lily pursed her lips but said nothing.

"I don't see why not," Hunter agreed. "As long as we don't get caught,"

"We won't," Troy was confident. "We know the castle pretty well by now, enough to avoid Filch anyhow,"

"Seeing as there are three groups of us, I doubt more than two of us would get caught anyway," Mackenzey grinned.

"That's settled then,"

"No objections, Evans?" Sirius had evidently seen Lily purse her lips.

"No," she replied tightly, though it cost her everything she had.

"Good," James said. "Moving on, it's time to brainstorm again!"

It was quarter past eleven by the time the first years had finished planning their prank. They had decided to make it a school-wide prank as they thought it would be more entertaining and challenging, and if nothing else, James Potter loved to be seen as impressive.

Several of the older students had told them to go to bed, and a couple of the times they had had to feign going to bed before emerging a safe ten minutes later.

"This is going to be awesome!" Peter exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, we did plan it," James said, modestly.

"Excuse me!" was Lily's response.

"I meant we as in the thirteen of us!" James argued, disbelievingly.

"Sure," Lily snorted.

"Lily," Alice warned.

Lily waved her away.

"Well, night people," Kerris said, standing up and yawning.

"Night," Remus replied, also standing.

There were a series of goodnights and five of the thirteen exited the common room together.

The five had not gone far before Kerris also bid them goodnight and headed in the opposite direction to Ravenclaw Tower.

"Well, that was fun," Mackenzey remarked.

"Which bit?" Ruby-Jane said sarcastically.

Mackenzey laughed. "It was eventful is all I meant,"

"I know," Ruby-Jane smiled back.

"Remus seemed fine," Hunter commented.

"Yeah," Troy was puzzled. "Seems a bit strange to me, to be honest,"

"Shh!" Hunter hissed.

"Wha..?" Mackenzey said, before Hunter yanked her and Troy behind a tapestry, Ruby-Jane not far behind.

Filch came wheezing around the corner, Mrs Norris at his heels, her yellow eyes glinting dangerously in the dark corridor (not that the students could see this).

"We know they're here, don't we?" Filch cooed to his cat. Mrs Norris glared at the tapestry. Filch stepped forward, slowly, reaching for the tapestry, and when his grubby fingers clenched the fabric he wrenched it up so quickly it would have been impossible to hide. But there was no one there.

"We'll find them, won't we, darling?" Filch looked livid, and shuffled off. Mrs Norris gave the tapestry one last glare before stalking off after her master. It seemed she was satisfied there was no one there too.

A minute or two after Filch and Mrs Norris had left the tapestry moved and Hunter tumbled out from it. Troy exited with slightly more grace (she didn't fall over), followed by Mackenzey, who tripped, causing Ruby-Jane to also lose her balance.

"Kenz!" Ruby-Jane whispered angrily.

"Sorry!" Mackenzey whispered back apologetically.

"Come on! We have to go now, in case they come back," Troy said, helping Ruby-Jane up.

Mackenzey scrambled to her feet and they set off quietly, keeping to the shadows and not attempting to start a conversation should they be overheard.

They reached the Entrance Hall and went their separate ways, Troy and Hunter to the dungeons and Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey to the cellar.

They waved each other goodnight, and silently made their way to their common rooms. Both couples were relieved when they both made it to their respective common rooms undetected, and entered the common room, hurrying to the dorm rooms so not to be suspicious.

Lying in her bed Troy thought to herself that almost being caught had been fun, and tomorrow would be great, bringing up a secret hidey hole the Gryffindor trouble makers didn't know about. She grinned. Sirius would not like that.

The next morning the thirteen students were up rather early for a Saturday, some not of their own accord.

Starting in Gryffindor, Alice had woken Lily up at some ungodly hour singing "Happy Halloween, It's time for a scream!"

Lily had stupidly only put a silencing spell on her bed and not Alice so Alice had performed the counter curse. Mary MacDonald had also been awoken by Alice's chanting so eventually she had the sense to silence Alice with a pillow to the face. Alice continued so Lily silenced her with a spell. Rolling over with a sigh, Lily mumbled a thank you to Mary for her effort to help silence their friend, but as she had already been woken up and couldn't get back to sleep she tumbled out of bed, said a brief good morning to a half asleep Mary and dressed quickly, following Alice who had left the room before Lily got out of bed to find someone to remove the spell.

Lily presumed Alice had gone to the boys' dorm, and as little as she wanted to run into Potter, Black and co, she was excited about the prank too, though she'd never admit it. She quickly ran up the boys' staircase and found she was correct in her assumption.

Alice had more than one reason to go up there though. But she discovered upon arrival that her second reason had already been accomplished, by Sirius no less. Of course, she reflected, that wasn't much of a surprise. So instead she waved madly and pointed at her mouth, indicating she couldn't talk.

Eventually both Remus and Frank figured out what she meant and Frank removed the spell.

"Oh, that's what all the waving was about," Sirius said.

"I would have thought you would have figured that out, Sirius, you were doing it yesterday!" Alice exclaimed.

"That was ages ago!" Sirius said.

Alice rolled her eyes as Lily walked in.

"So, you got it removed then?" She grinned at Alice.

"It was you!" Frank said, in mock outrage.

Lily looked confused. "What?"

"Made her come in her at a time too early to even consider getting up at, even on Halloween when we have an excellent prank to be setting up!"

"Riiiggghhhttt,"

"Frank, you know perfectly well we were all up before Alice even came in here, thanks to Sirius!" James glared at his best friend, who shrugged.

Frank looked nonchalant. "Meh,"

"And it's Halloween!" Sirius defended.

"Oh, Merlin," Remus had a thought, "Can you imagine what he's like at Christmas!" His eyes widened in horror.

"You staying for Christmas then, Remus?

"Um," Remus thought about it. There weren't any full moons that week, so he'd be all right. "Yeah, should be."

"Me, too," Peter said, "Mum and dad decided that they'd treat Caden to a Christmas in Switzerland for being the youngest and therefore still being at home when both me and Ruby are here, and Alixx,"

"I don't know what I'm doing," Chris said.

"Me either," Frank said, "I suppose it depends on who else is staying,"

"Christmas here sounds fun," Muggleborn Lily put in, "But I miss my parents…"

"Eh, my parents are having a break from me and my brothers," Alice grinned.

"I miss my parents, too," James added. Some of the group looked surprised he and Lily shared something. "It's weird being an only child with parents a little older and I want to spend time with them,"

Sirius was silent. He didn't offer any explanation, but merely dressed and waited for the others to do the same. He had, however, perked up by the time they got to the Hall for breakfast.

Already sitting at the Gryffindor table were Ruby-Jane, Mackenzey and Kerris, and the Gryffindors took seats around their friends.

Ruby-Jane looked tired. Peter noticed this, and asked "What's up, Rubes?"

"Somebody," she glared at Mackenzey, "woke me up way too early this morning!"

"Same," Peter looked at Sirius.

"Ahh well, you're up now!" Hunter told them, appearing behind Remus.

"Where's Troy?" Ruby-Jane asked, looking around and not seeing her.

"Setting up part one of the prank," Hunter whispered back, trying to be inconspicuous.

"Ahh, good," Ruby-Jane nodded back.

"Does everyone know what they're supposed to be doing?" James asked, hearing what was going on.

"And when?" Remus added.

Most of them nodded, but they still decided after breakfast they would go over the plan one last time.

When Troy arrived her friends filled her in, even though she had already done most of what was planned for her and they all hurried through breakfast, even Lily, and decided the library would be the best place to go as they wouldn't be overheard, especially at this time in the morning when most people were still at breakfast or indeed still in bed.

It was a very good thing, Mackenzey mused, that they usually sat together and hung out together otherwise people might be getting suspicious. She grinned; this was going to be the best Halloween ever!

In the library the students casually made their way to the back, where the librarian couldn't see them from her usual post (determined by Frank, Alice, Lily, Chris, Kerris and Remus' frequent trips to library so they could study in peace), some picking up books that could be used for first year studying (mainly it was the ones who would actually be seen in the library dallying – there's nothing more obviously up than seeing James Potter, Sirius Black, Ruby-Jane and Peter Pettigrew and Hunter Crowley in the library without being forced, especially in the first term of the year).

Eventually all the students made it to the back where they settled comfortably onto chairs and the floor.

"Right, let's go through it one last time," James said.

"The Great Prank," Sirius declared dramatically.

"Yes, The Great Prank…"

 _I was going to put the prank in this chapter, but then realised it would be a long chapter, and instead I could put the prank into a chapter of its own… :D So yeah, comments?_


	4. The Prank

_A/N: Thursday again! I hope you guys enjoy the unveiling of the prank! It might seem a bit grown up for students who have been at Hogwarts for two months, but I did look up charms they would learn in first year and most of them are meant to be smart and adept for their age. Like, the Marauders alone, what they achieved at school, I think some simple charms would have been a breeze! Also, I was worried I was making the characters sound more grown up than the eleven years they're meant to be; I wrote this seven years ago but even at seventeen I couldn't remember being eleven; but I've just been watching Freaks and Geeks, and although Sam and his friends are three years older it didn't seem to be too much to have my characters sound like they do!_

 _Anyway, enjoy and review! Thank you for reading._

The Prank

"Right, let's go through it one last time," James said.

"The Great Prank," Sirius declared dramatically.

"Yes, The Great Prank…"

"Ooh, what a great name!" Mackenzey squealed excitedly.

"All right, keep your voice down," Troy muttered, though she didn't hide her grin.

Mackenzey grinned back at her. "Shup, Troy,"

"Okay," James held up his hands effectively silencing the group. "Troy's already completed phase one-"

"If that alone was phase one how many phases are there?" Alice asked in disbelief.

"I don't know," James replied impatiently. "A few,"

Alice, seeing the look on his face, didn't question him any further.

James carried on, unperturbed. "We have nothing to do during the day today, until two hours before the feast. Then we meet up there, and sneak in-"

"I swear that's not how we planned it," This time it was Sirius who interrupted. Sirius was one of the few people who did not mind an irritable James, which was good as that was exactly where James was headed.

"Well, if you know better, then why don't you go over the plan?" James snapped, leaning back in his chair stiffly.

Sirius mock saluted him. "Right, well, as we all know Troy completed phase one, lifting the colour charms in the Slytherin common room, but they won't be activated until later this evening," Troy nodded in affirmation. "Just after lunch we have to sneak back into the Hall, or even better never leave, and-"

"How are we going to manage that, Sirius?" James asked snidely, obviously put out that Sirius was apparently doing a better job of this leader thing than James.

"Well, didn't we decide that we'd stay as late as possible? And today's a Hogsmeade visit so most of the older students will be out anyway,"

The rest of the group, bar James, who was looking increasingly disgruntled, nodded. Sirius looked at James. "Happy?"

James glared back, not bothering to answer. Sirius grinned at his envious friend.

"So, as it's a Saturday too, it'll be easier for us to still be eating after everyone else, and the professors can't let us starve! Then, when we're mostly alone, Lily, Alice, Frank and Remus have a table each, lifting the colour charms on them, whilst Ruby-Jane, Peter, Chris and Mackenzey have the easier task of changing the house banners. Meanwhile James, Hunter and I have the difficult task of altering the head table whilst Troy and Kerris keep watch. Then Remus, Lily and Mackenzey, being the charmers of the group," Sirius grinned, "will set a time code whilst Kerris attempts to charm the ceiling. Hopefully, if it works, the banners will all change to a prowling red lion on a gold background, the sky will be red with a lion walking over it, then one by one the tables will slowly change to a bright red, starting with Slytherin, and eventually a giant lion will emerge and walk the table before fading away. On the Gryffindor table students will then be dyed red faced, with a lion emblazoned across their cheeks, the Hufflepuffs gold with red lines, the Ravenclaws red with gold lines and the Slytherins," Sirius grinned evilly, "will have red and gold horizontal streaks throughout their hair and face, and every bit of available skin,"

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Lily asked nervously.

"Maybe," Remus conceded. He didn't elaborate though, and no one else seemed to share Lily's concerns.

"But we'll get in such trouble!" Lily fretted. "And not just with the professors," she added seeing James' look and sensing his comment about being a teacher's pet.

James closed his mouth. He opened it again to say, "We can handle it. Plus, we could always say it was the second years…" He grinned sheepishly.

"You won't blame anyone else, James Potter!" Remus chided. "If we get caught we take sole responsibility,"

"Sole responsibility is a bit hard with thirteen people," Peter grinned.

"Sole responsibility as first years, friends, students," Remus amended.

"Well, now that's sorted, can we go get some lunch!?" Chris said, listening to his tummy rumbling loudly at the thought of food.

"We can't all go at once," Alice pointed out. "It'd be obvious if we all left now but stayed after everyone else to "finish eating" when we arrived early,"

Kerris nodded. "It is rather early for lunch, Chris," she eyed him disapprovingly. "Maybe we should do some homework or something?"

"Booorrrriiinnnggg," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Kerris glared at him. "I happen to think it's a good idea," Frank reiterated.

This time James rolled his eyes.

"Well, I for one, have two essays to finish," Lily said.

"Yeah, I have a Charms essay," Mackenzey sighed.

"Ergh. I have Charms and Potions still!" Ruby-Jane added.

"Transfiguration, still," Alice said, ignoring Lily's accusatory look.

"I have some Transfiguration, too, from when I was off," Remus chimed in. "Fancy some help, Alice?"

"Sure," Alice grinned back at Remus. "By help, you mean do it for me?"

"What else?" Remus grinned back.

Troy felt a twinge. Remus was her best friend, not Alice's. What was she doing, digging her way in like that?

"Frank, what do you have to finish?" Troy asked him sweetly.

Frank looked surprised. "Err, some Charms, I think,"

"Oh, so do I. Care to join me?" In her slightly envious state Troy didn't notice the change in her demeanour, but Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey, as her best friends, did. They glanced at each other, offering questioning glances.

"Yeah… Okay," Frank replied hesitantly.

Troy smiled broadly. She glanced at Remus and Alice and frowned to see them deep in conversation and apparently not having noticed her and Frank's exchange.

"Meet you back here in ten?" Troy asked Frank. He stuck his thumb up and they disappeared from the library together.

Alice looked up as they left. "Where're they going?" she asked.

"Gone to get Charms homework," Mackenzey replied, a light frown still evident on her face.

"Ahh, wicked," Alice replied, shrugging and turning back to Remus. Both had brought their work with them to breakfast, determined to get some work done, prank or no prank.

An hour later found Alice and Remus comparing notes, trying to work out if they had missed anything in their essays, which were due on Monday, and everyone else, including James and Sirius, had already finished them (Remus had not done his because of the full moon, and Alice because she had missed the essay in her homework plan).

Next to them on the table Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey were still slogging over half-finished Charms essays, Lily joining them when she needed to check a fact as Troy and Frank were sat on the far side of the table and were ignoring anyone who spoke to them, mostly Troy, who seemed determined to make Alice and Remus notice, but to no succession.

Chris and Kerris were sitting at a nearby table with Peter and Hunter, all of them hard at work on completing Ruby-Jane's same Potions essay. Incidentally Kerris' was due after the others, but being a Ravenclaw she didn't mind doing it early, especially when she had her friends to compare with then.

Finally James and Sirius were sprawled across another table, surrounded by pieces of parchment in various stages of paper plane stature. They both, however, had appeared to have given up and were instead flicking through their text books, glancing at a page briefly and then claiming to whoever would listen that they'd read the book.

Hunter looked up at them. "I think this must be some sort of record for them," he said, jerking his head in the two Gryffindor boys direction.

Peter also looked up and laughed. "I think so! Not that they're doing anything productive,"

Not long after the first year's observation, Lily, Ruby and Mackenzey packed away their things and sidled over to the other table.

"What are they like?" Mackenzey sighed, dropping into a seat opposite Kerris, rolling her eyes in James and Sirius' general direction.

Ruby-Jane looked over at them and studied them closely. "Half grown apes," she declared, pulling out the seat next to Hunter. Lily was slightly uncomfortable in this group, but took a seat near Mackenzey and Kerris.

"How're your essays going?" she asked the others, after the initial laugh from Ruby-Jane's comment had died down.

"Ergh, don't ask!" Chris said disgustedly, staring at his parchment with something close to pure loathing.

Kerris patted his on the back. "Here, let me have a look," she offered, reaching over and bringing the essay to her. Ruby-Jane watched her absentmindedly. Kerris scoured the page quickly, crossing out little and smiling. "It's good," she told Chris, "You just need some more detail here," she pointed out the problem and grinned at his groan.

"Hey, Ruby, is any particular reason why you are staring at Kerris in such an odd manner?" Mackenzey asked, suddenly noticing her friend's weird object of sight.

Ruby-Jane shook herself. "Sorry, what?"

"I just asked why you were staring at Kerris."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ruby-Jane smiled apologetically at Kerris. "I was just thinking about Troy and her weird reaction earlier," she finished, lowering her voice.

"What weird reaction?" Hunter asked, confused.

"When Remus offered to help Alice…" Mackenzey replied, rubbing her arm.

"Ooh," Hunter said, "I didn't notice,"

Mackenzey was about to say how could he not notice when Lily beat him to it.

"You mean to say you didn't notice Troy ask Frank almost flirtatiously if he wanted to study with her, and then her leave with him. And her glance at Remus and Alice to see if they'd seen it? And now, studying, her not talking to anyone but Frank, probably in the hope that either Alice or Remus will notice," Lily said knowingly.

"Err, no?" Hunter said shrugging his shoulders.

"Boys," Lily and Ruby-Jane muttered simultaneously, smiling slightly at each other as they realised what they'd done.

Chris leaned over the table, conspiringly. "What's up with that, then?" he asked, in a hushed whisper.

"You're not in the bloody FBI, Chris," Kerris said, pulling him back to his chair and setting his essay in front of him.

"FBI?" Hunter asked, looking between Chris, Kerris and Lily, who obviously also knew what it meant.

"Never mind, some other time," Kerris said, waving the question away with her hand.

"Okay, right. But seriously, what's up with that?"

"Troy's rather attached to the people she cares about, and she doesn't like being threatened," Ruby-Jane grudgingly told the Muggleborns. "I think she feels that Remus is her best mate and study partner and she feels like Alice has no place taking what seems to be hers…"

"That makes sense," Lily said.

"Are you sure that's it?" Chris winked at the girls. Kerris hit him on the arm.

"I'm sure," Ruby-Jane said firmly. "Troy's not the type to fall in love after two months; she's just created a bond with a best friend. I mean, she thinks of us," Ruby-Jane nodded to Mackenzey, Peter and Hunter, "as her best friends, but all for different reasons, Remus is just another one. But with him it's slightly different because it's a bond only the two of them share, not the whole group, like us lot,"

Chris nodded in understanding. "Fair enough,"

"Mm, but it's still odd. It's like she's not just feeling replaced, she's jealous," Mackenzey mused, a frown marring her small forehead.

"And that's not like her?" Kerris asked.

"Not really, no. She's usually very introverted about how she feels," Hunter said. "But it's not a bad thing, usually, because she doesn't let things bother her,"

"Until now," Ruby-Jane added.

"Someone talk to Alice or Remus?"

"And poor Frank," Lily said, "Bless him, he doesn't know what's going on,"

"I will," Ruby-Jane said resignedly. She got up and went over to Remus and Alice. The others saw her bend down and whisper to them, trying not to draw either Frank or Troy's attention to herself. They saw Remus nod first, then Alice, though a flicker of emotions crossed her face. Finally Ruby-Jane came back and sat heavily in her seat.

"Well?" Chris prompted. "What did you say?"

"You're a nosey gossip, Christopher Foxx," Mackenzey scolded him, before turning to Ruby-Jane bright eyed.

"Hypocrite," Kerris laughed, doing the same.

"Hark, who's talking!" Mackenzey laughed back.

Ruby-Jane rolled her eyes. "Do you want to know or not?"

They all nodded eagerly.

"I just said that in case they hadn't noticed, Troy was being off with them, because she was slightly put out Remus had ditched her without a second thought for Alice,"

"You said that?" Lily gasped.

"Subtlety was never my strong point," Ruby-Jane shrugged.

"I can tell," Lily said dryly.

"You really said that?" Kerris asked looking slightly gob smacked.

Ruby-Jane shrugged again. "Yeah,"

Hunter winced slightly. "I can see how that could come across as the wrong way,"

"Damn. And I was trying so hard to be nice," Ruby-Jane said sarcastically.

"I was just saying!" Hunter said defensively.

"Well, to be honest, he shouldn't have just ditched her anyway,"

"He didn't," Lily said coolly.

"With all due respect, and all effectiveness, he kind of did," Ruby-Jane replied. "He didn't even notice her all over Frank,"

"Neither did Alice,"

Ruby-Jane was not perturbed. "She was engulfed by her feelings. He was distracted by Alice, slight difference,"

The five other occupants of the table looked between the two agitated girls.

"Look, I have nothing against Alice, all right? I can just see where Troy's coming from, and sort of agree that what Remus did is hurtful,"

"I know you don't," Lily agreed. "And so can I, but being short with them is hardly going to fix things,"

"Things don't need fixing, do they?" Ruby-Jane questioned.

"Maybe,"

"Damn,"

"Hey, I'm sure it'll all be fine. After all, Alice is rather attached to Frank; they have quite a bit in common. And from what I've seen Remus is as friendly with Troy as she is with him. It's just a small misunderstanding we'll have forgotten about by seventh year,"

"Mm, maybe you're right. I just don't like seeing my friends upset, especially Troy. With her, it's unnerving,"

"I can hazard a guess,"

All through this Peter had been silently sitting in the corner near Hunter. He suddenly looked up, a small crease in his forehead. "Troy's more upset that Remus hasn't noticed her actions with Frank than his studying with Alice," he acknowledged. "Her reasoning is that if he cared, he'd notice,"

"He's a boy," Kerris noted dryly. "No chance,"

"Hey!" Both Chris and Hunter protested. Before they had a chance to defend their manhood, James and Sirius had dawdled over from their table, not bothering to clear up after themselves.

"What y'all doing?" The fake American drawl announced Sirius' arrival at the table.

"Nothing," Mackenzey sighed, placing her hands on the table in order to stand up.

"Well, we want food," Sirius whined, patting his flat stomach.

James nodded vigorously, his glasses almost flying off.

"All right, we'll go have some lunch soon," Ruby-Jane told them, feeling very much like a mother hen.

"No! Now!" James complained.

Mackenzey looked at her watch. "It is lunchtime," she said.

"Oh, all right then. Can't see why you couldn't go down on your own," Ruby-Jane grumbled, also standing up from the table.

"I haven't finished my essay!" Chris exclaimed, suddenly looking down at his parchment in dismay.

"Your own fault, gossiper," Kerris also stood from the table, joined by Lily and Peter.

Muttering to himself, Chris packed his work away and followed the others to Frank, Alice, Remus and Troy's table.

"Hey, you lot," Peter greeted

His hello was received with a dismal response. Troy didn't even look up, and Frank barely had time to lift his head before continuing scribbling down what Troy had just read from a textbook. Remus waved a hand in a half-hearted hello, and Alice flashed a brief smile at them, intent on finishing her essay.

"We were just going to get some lunch," Hunter said, poking Troy in the shoulder. A moment later he was almost sorry he had, for she had slapped his hand away with such force it stung red raw.

"Geez, Troy, anger management much?"

Troy smirked, bent down over her essay. Mackenzey waved a hand in front of her face.

"Earth to Troy, do you want some lunch?"

"What about the others?" For the moment she had forgotten about Remus. Then she spotted Remus and Alice bent over a book at the other end of the table and she scowled.

"Yeah, well the apes over there," Ruby-Jane ignored James and Sirius' cries of outrage at being called apes, "wanted feeding, and as it's lunchtime we figured it's late enough to need to stay late, without arousing suspicion,"

Troy nodded. "Okay. Frank, you coming?"

"Err, no, you go ahead, Troy. I'll wait for Alice and Remus,"

Troy scowl deepened at the mere mention of the names.

"Fine," she snapped, grabbing her books and stalking out of the library. Mackenzey hurried after her with Hunter.

"What's up with her?" Frank asked puzzlement evident on his face.

"Ergh, don't ask," Ruby-Jane sighed, "Just a certain couple at the other end of the table,"

"Ooh, that'd make sense…"

"Indeed," Ruby-Jane said dryly.

Frank grinned. "It'll all work out,"

"Funny, that's what Lily said,"

"Lily's barely wrong," Frank pointed out.

Ruby-Jane shrugged nonchalantly.

"Food!" Sirius cried, drawing everyone's attention, including Alice, Remus and the irate librarian's, to him. Quickly they all grabbed their stuff and left the library before she came over and lectured them on proper library rules, as James so kindly put it.

"I reckon we should dump our books in the common room first," Lily suggested, hauling her bag over her shoulder. "They'd only get in the way,"

The others all agreed and they hurried to the Gryffindor common room before they missed lunch altogether.

The ten other first years found Hunter and Mackenzey sitting with an unwilling Troy at the Gryffindor table, nothing on their plates and exasperated expressions on both Hunter and Mackenzey's faces.

Remus made to sit next to her, oblivious to the extent of her fury, a little startled when she pulled the nearest person to her, who happened to be James, down into the space Remus was about to occupy.

"Why, hello there!" James squawked, holding out his arms to envelope Troy in a hug. She didn't resist when he put his arms round her, and even went so far as to put her hands gingerly on his back in a half-hearted hug.

Remus just shrugged and moved to sit next to Mackenzey. At least it's not Alice, Troy thought relieved.

The thirteen ate slowly, not enough to attract attention, but enough for reason enough for them all still to be there when everyone else had drifted off.

"Please, Professor, we arrived late, and we didn't eat much breakfast," Sirius said, beseechingly staring up at Professor McGonagall as she approached the table.

"Indeed, Mr Black," she replied, dryly. "I just came to say you can stay for another half an hour, before the house elves really must get the table to prepare it for the feast tonight,"

"Table?" asked James dumbly.

"Yes, Mr Potter, table," she indicated the three tables sinking.

"But we might want to use something on them!" Sirius cringed at his lame excuse.

McGonagall eyed them. "Well, I suppose I can't object, you are all in the different houses." The tables reappeared and Sirius looked especially relieved.

"Thanks, Minnie!" he yelled. When her suspicious eyes swung round to him, he pointed at the Hufflepuff table. "Leftover pumpkin pie, we don't have any left on the Gryffindor table," he said, quickly shoving a pumpkin pie under the table.

As McGonagall left the Hall, Lily muttered, "Great, now she's going to know it's us,"

"Yeah, you could have been a bit more inconspicuous," Alice sighed.

"We could modify her memory?" Sirius suggested; earning James a kick under the table as Ruby-Jane caught him and not Sirius.

"Modify whose memory?" The first years jumped as Jack's voice joined the conversation.

Troy whipped round. "Jack, don't sneak up on people!" she cried.

"Sorry, sister," he replied grinning, ruffling her hair.

"Whose memory?" Alixx asked, putting her arms around Peter's neck in a welcome hug.

"McGonagall's," Ruby-Jane answered grudgingly.

"Why?" Alixx look intrigued.

Ruby-Jane looked up at her sister, and decided to trust her. "We're planning a prank for tonight-"

"And we need the tables," Peter added.

"And McGonagall might suspect something 'cause we were in here last and making a fuss over the tables being left so we could nick some leftovers, and then tonight they're all charmed…"

"So, it was obviously us," Peter finished.

"I see your predicament," Jack grinned, not offering to help in the slightest.

Alixx rolled her eyes. "I'll see what I can do," she suggested.

"Aw, thanks, Al!" Ruby-Jane screamed.

Sirius next to her winced and rubbed his ear. "Not so loud!" he complained.

"Sorry," Ruby-Jane grinned sheepishly.

"No problem," Alixx said, letting go of Peter and waving at them.

Jack stopped flinging leftover peas at Hunter and Mackenzey to run after Alixx. The younger students could see him waving his arms around at Alixx, trying to get her to change her mind. Alixx shook her head determinedly and walked around him and out the hall. Jack stared after her, until he came to his senses and set off out of the Hall too.

Ruby-Jane turned back round to her friends. "Well, that's sorted,"

"Yeah! Did I ever mention how much I love your sister?" Chris laughed.

The others just looked at him. "I wasn't being serious…" he added.

"Let's get to it!" James cried, interrupting the silence that ensued after Chris's statement.

At once Lily, Alice, Frank and Remus spread out between the tables, Lily taking the Slytherin table as she was the most adept at Charms, Remus taking Hufflepuff, Frank Ravenclaw and Alice Gryffindor.

Ruby-Jane headed for the Hufflepuff banner, Peter the Gryffindor (animating the lion), Chris the Slytherin and Mackenzey the Ravenclaw. Kerris and Troy had headed to the door to keep watch, carefully listening for anyone approaching the Hall.

James, Sirius and Hunter ran to the Head table and proceeded to flick their wands rapidly over each place setting, grinning at each other down the table.

They then all gathered by the Gryffindor table again, and the others sat down as Remus, Lily and Mackenzey stood to the side, setting a time code and Kerris waved her wand at the ceiling attempting to counteract the charm already on it.

"It worked!" she said, gleefully, staring at her handiwork with joy.

"Yay, the first thing everyone will see tonight is the lion on the ceiling," Sirius said excitedly.

"Done," Remus sighed, sitting down on the bench again and grabbing some pie for himself.

"Thank god, time setting is not easy!" Lily grumbled, leaning against Alice as she sat down.

"No mean feat," Mackenzey added, grinning.

"I think we better get out of here," Troy said suddenly, "Before someone else comes in and sees us," She still wasn't looking at Remus, not that he'd noticed.

"Yeah, we don't want to have to attack another teacher," James grinned, whilst Lily rolled her eyes disapprovingly.

"You mean Alixx," she stated, "And I do hope she knows what she's doing," Lily said worriedly.

"She does," Ruby-Jane confided, "She always put memory modification on mum and dad when they grounded her. She's not a Ravenclaw for nothing,"

"One sassy lady," Sirius winked.

"Oh, Merlin," Ruby-Jane moaned. "Please, please, don't scar me for life by saying that again!" By the look on his face, Peter agreed entirely with this statement.

"Come on!" Alice laughed, yanking Peter up and setting off out the Hall with him, Frank, Hunter, Lily and Mackenzey. Ruby-Jane followed soon after, grabbing a cauldron cake and running away from both James and Sirius as they attempted to hit her with one of their own. Remus grinned at them and shook his head.

"You coming, Troy?" he asked her.

She ignored him and stood up, her back to him. He looked slightly puzzled but turned to Chris instead.

"Chris?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," he replied, "Kerris?"

Kerris looked over at Troy. "I think I'm going to stay with Troy," she murmured. Chris nodded and led Remus out of the room, ignoring Remus' questions about Troy's behaviour.

They met the others in the Entrance Hall, and decided to go outside by the lake. "Might as well enjoy the fresh air whilst it's still quite warm out," Alice said excitedly.

"Where're Troy and Kerris?" Mackenzey asked Remus and Chris.

Chris nodded back to the Hall. "Having a heart to heart. At least, I think that was Kerris' intention,"

"Good luck with that," Ruby-Jane grinned.

"Heart to heart about what?" Remus asked, seriously confused.

Ruby-Jane rolled her eyes at him. She swung her arm around his neck and led him outside. "Troy likes you; you're her best friend, in a nutshell. And earlier you completely blanked her, and now she's blanking you. I told you that in the library!"

"I know," Remus replied, shrugging. "I just thought she'd get over it, she knows she's special to me, too,"

"No, she doesn't!" Ruby said exasperatedly. "You have to tell her, Remus!"

James, Sirius and Peter, who had been play fighting nearby, looked up at Ruby-Jane's agitated voice. They found Ruby and Remus facing each other, Ruby's hands on her hips and a frown on her face, and Remus staring back at her, a mixture of shock, confusion and anger evident in his features.

"Keep your nose out, Pettigrew!"

Ruby was taken aback. "I wouldn't have to stick my nose in if you knew how to treat your friends properly and weren't so damn thick!" she spat back.

Remus, thick? Sirius thought to himself, watching the scene with interest.

"I know how to treat my friends," Remus said quietly.

"Really? Is that why Troy is now ignoring you?" she asked him.

"It was a misunderstanding!" Remus replied.

"Yeah, and I'm trying to help you fix it. God damn it, Lupin, you're unbelievable!"

"And you're irritating," Remus said, trying to keep his anger in check.

Sirius felt a twinge at Remus' comment, and realised he didn't know whose side he was on.

"I know," Ruby-Jane accepted the insult with grace. "But I'm just trying to help you!" she pleaded.

"Well, don't," Remus said shortly.

Ruby-Jane shrugged. "I don't have a choice,"

Remus didn't reply. Gently Ruby-Jane laid a hand on his arm. "Just talk to her, Remus, tell her that you didn't mean anything by it, tell her she's your best friend and that she's irreplaceable, tell her she means everything to you, and mean everything you say,"

Remus turned away from her, but he walked up to the castle and disappeared inside. Ruby-Jane smiled slightly as the door banged shut. Sirius came up to her and hugged her. "Are you all right?" he asked, wiping some hair off her face.

She smiled at him. "Yeah. What he said was true, but I couldn't let him carry on like this with Troy,"

"I know," Sirius comforted, resting his chin on her head. James slapped Sirius on the back. "Is someone being sensitive?" he laughed.

Sirius laughed as well, and let go of Ruby. "Maybe, but I am capable of it, you know!"

"I feel special!" Ruby-Jane laughed along, wrapping an arm around her brother.

"Come on, let's go annoy the others," Peter suggested, twirling his wand between his fingers, grinning impishly.

"You're on," James took the bait, and followed Peter round the back of the tree the rest of their friends were sitting round. Sirius followed at a distance, Ruby-Jane elected to create a diversion.

One diversion, three boys' wands and six spells later the six sitting under the tree were sporting fluorescent hair. James had taken down Lily and Chris, deciding Lily's long, red hair would look better blue, and Chris' white hair would look better pink. Sirius had turned Mackenzey's short, ginger hair green, to go with her eyes, and Frank's dark hair blonde. Finally Peter had tackled Alice's short, blonde hair and Hunter's almost black hair, turning them purple and orange respectively.

The four others sniggered between themselves as they sat down, not letting the others know that anything had changed in their appearances. It wouldn't be until later that any of them would notice, despite them looking at their friends frequently whilst outside.

Back in the Hall, Kerris had approached Troy cautiously. "Are you okay?" she asked tentatively.

Troy looked round at her. "Yeah, really. I just don't handle some things well," she grinned sadly.

"I hadn't noticed," Kerris said softly. She sat herself on the stone step next to Troy.

"You must have been the only one," Troy said, looking a little sad over the statement.

"No, we were talking about it earlier, because we care, not because we like gossip!" Kerris added.

Troy laughed. "I know those lot are gossips, but I know they care, too,"

"Good. Now, do you want to talk about it?"

Troy shook her head. "Not really," she said apologetically.

"That's okay," Kerris smiled back.

After a few minutes silence, Troy spoke. "It's just that I thought we had a solid best friendship, and then he doesn't even notice when he goes off with some other girl and I talk to Frank. Neither of them did,"

"I know," Kerris soothed.

"And then he doesn't even bother asking why I'm not talking to him, he didn't look at me at all in the library, he shrugged it off at lunch and he walked away without question with Chris after lunch,"

Kerris leaned over to hug her. "He'll come around, he's too smart not to,"

Troy scoffed. "He's a boy,"

"Your brother's pretty smart," Kerris pointed out. Troy couldn't argue with that.

"Give him a chance, yeah? He's not a mind reader,"

"I know," Troy sighed, "It just got me so riled and I don't know why,"

"I get it," Kerris said, "Sometimes that's how I feel when Chris spends ages talking to someone else, especially Ruby or Mackenzey,"

Troy looked at her, but then deduced that wasn't expected to be much of a shock.

"It's not jealousy, is it?" Troy said anxiously.

"I don't know," Kerris replied honestly, "I think it's more worried about being replaced; playing on insecurities we didn't know we had…"

"I just hated it, Remus talking to Alice like that,"

"I know, I saw them too, and wow, if Chris had been like that with someone, I'd feel exactly the same,"

Their conversation was stalled as a nervous cough came from their left. They both looked round and were surprised and a bit shocked to see Remus standing there. Kerris looked nervously between them, then stood up quickly and said a hurried 'see you later!' before going to find the others.

Remus shuffled forward, until Troy indicated the step next to her. He stopped short, and a slightly uncomfortable silence fell.

"Troy, I'm sorry," Remus began, his courage failing after the initial apology.

She looked at him. "What for?"

This seemed to be all Remus needed to proceed. "I'm sorry I effectively ignored you, I'm sorry I spent so much time with Alice, I'm sorry I didn't realise you were so upset and I'm sorry I made you feel so bad. You're a real spesh girl, Troy, and I'd be an idiot to not apologise, I know that now,"

She blushed slightly. "How much did you hear?" she asked.

"The end," Remus admitted, "Though I don't know how long you were talking…"

"Not long," Troy said, feeling a little tension leave the air around them.

"And I was talking to Ruby," Remus added, shrugging slightly.

"Oh,"

"Actually, we more like argued… But she made me realise exactly what I'd done, and why I needed to apologise,"

Troy looked up at him still standing. "Ruby's always been a bit protective of her friends and her beliefs…"

"I'd gathered,"

There was another silence. "So, are we okay now?" Remus asked.

Troy was silent for a moment. Then she nodded. "I'll try to be more understanding in future. I honestly don't know what came over me,"

"It's fine," Remus grinned. "Come on, let's go find the others. The Prank is going to be good,"

"Not amazing?" Troy asked jokingly.

"Got to start small," Remus replied. They left the hall together laughing.

Down in the grounds, Kerris had spotted her friends and looked at them, confused. Then she realised that four of the ten didn't have fluorescent hair, therefore they must be guilty of the prank. She had grinned, deciding not to mention it for now.

The group spent the afternoon lazing on the ground under the tree they had claimed as theirs at the beginning of the year. Joined by Remus and Troy about fifteen minutes after Kerris, the majority of the group smiled to see them getting along again.

Soon enough it was time for the feast, and the first years climbed to the castle in great excitement. If everything was planned right the charms would be set off ten minutes into the feast. As planned, Dippet spoke a short speech, and as soon as he sat down the charms were activated.

Alixx gave her siblings a thumb up, meaning she had managed to modify McGonagall's memory, they were safe.

Slowly all the banners started to morph at once, blazing scarlet and gold when finished, each with a proud lion marching across it. As the students got over the shock the Slytherin table started to change colour and soon it was the same colour as the banners. Some of the students got a shock when they looked at the table and a lion was prowling down it. Moments after, the same thing happened with the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables, then the Head Table. Poor Professor Flitwick fell off his chair in surprise at seeing a fully grown lion standing in front of him.

Finally the lion materialised on the Gryffindor table, and the students cheered for their mascot. The students then turned back to their friends, and were surprised to see their faces painted in red and gold. The spells had counteracted the previous charms the four friends had earlier placed on their classmates, disappointing them until they spotted the Slytherins, who were outraged that even their hair had been dyed. An excited chatter broke out, and most of the thirteen responsible were looking smug.

Even Lily had to admire the artwork of the dye on people's faces and hair. She even grinned a little, being careful to not let Alice notice, for she'd never hear the end of it.

Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were laughing heartily at the prank, and Jack on the Slytherin table was trying to contain his laughter at seeing his friends painted red and gold.

After a few minutes Dippet waved his wand and everything was back to normal, apart from the Slytherins and Gryffindor's face paint. The Slytherins just to annoy them, as they knew it would, and the Gryffindors because there was nothing wrong with it.

"Who performed the sticking charm?" Lily hissed across the table.

"We knew you wouldn't approve, so we just didn't tell you," Sirius said, clapping with everyone else at the ingenious prank.

Finally, everyone settled down, bar the Slytherins, half of whom had scurried out of the room intent on washing off the paint. Lily was silently seething, having been told by Alice to take a chill pill.

"That was amazing!" Mackenzey announced.

"It was better than I expected," Kerris agreed.

"Pretty good," Troy grinned.

"Why, thank you," Sirius bowed.

"It wasn't just you, Sirius!"

"Or you lot, James!"

"We'll all take credit," Frank said.

"Shh! Keep your voice down, otherwise someone will tell and we'll get punished after all!" Alice whispered, looking around nervously, not wanting a detention, especially with McGonagall.

"Sorry!" Frank apologised.

Through all the hustle and bustle the thirteen friends left the Great Hall and departed to bed. They'd been up late the night before and they'd worn themselves out with the prank.

Settling into their beds, each one of them grinned, even Lily.

In Slytherin, Troy was closing her eyes contentedly. Yes, she thought, it had been an ingenious idea.


	5. Suspicions

_A/N: I feel after the excitement of the last chapter this one is a little more dull, but I suppose filler chapters are a must. JK wrote a whole filler book! :P. And, as you can see, it shows that it's different from the HP books as each character will have their own thoughts and experiences, as opposed to in HP where if Harry's not there it doesn't happen. So I hope you enjoy that! I promise the older they get the more exciting the story will be. There's only so much eleven year olds can do!_

Suspicions

The next morning at breakfast, McGonagall stood and began to speak, informing the school that an investigation was being carried out to find the perpetrators of the prank the night before. Her lips remained in a firm thin line as her words carried, and the guilty first years felt a little apprehension. Lily had no doubt that they would be found out, whilst her fellow Gryffindors were confident they wouldn't get caught. James, especially, was sure that there was no way the prank could be traced back to them, and bragged about it, albeit quietly, throughout breakfast. Lily, irritated no end by his constant prattling and his friends' laughter, left the table, taking her toast with her, and went to sit outside Potions although she still had another twenty minutes before class was due to start.

She sighed, leaning against the wall. Things had been going fairly well between her and the rest of the first years, which she told herself she was only glad for because Alice was friends with them. Whilst she still didn't truly fit in, she was no complete outsider either. She reluctantly admitted that the prank had been entertaining, and she justified that it was good practice of their magic. Nevertheless she was glad when Severus appeared and she happily struck up a conversation with her oldest friend, having missed him being that the two of them were in opposing houses.

When he questioned her about the prank, however, she grew cautious, knowing that even in their two shorts months together, he and the Gryffindor boys couldn't stand one another. She felt bad for lying, but couldn't help thinking that although Severus was her best friend she would be landing herself and twelve other people into trouble if he ever got wind that Potter and Black were behind the prank.

Severus, in turn, suspected that Lily was lying. Knowing her for as long as he did, and having a fondness for her which only grew, he knew all her little mannerisms and could tell she wasn't being straight with him. He also knew, though, that she would never lie to him without reason. She was too good. So, he accepted her lie without question, although he was still determined to find the culprit. Lily's lie only served to convince him that Potter and Black were involved somehow, and he would use that to his advantage. He was a Slytherin, after all.

The other Gryffindor and Slytherin first years arrived soon after, and Lily went to join Frank and Alice further down the hall, relieved, for once, that Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew were late for class. She would have to warn the others later that Severus was suspicious, and Potter's bragging would only make it more evident to those sneaky enough that they were behind yesterday's events.

Severus watched her closely, looking for a sign of anything to point him in the right direction, but she gave nothing away, instead diving into a conversation with Prewett and Longbottom about the upcoming class. Lily had a flair for Potions only Severus himself could rival, and he admired her work from afar. It didn't occur to him until much later, after he had already joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, that it was he and Lily, a half-blood raised as a muggle and a muggleborn, who beat out every Pureblood in their class the entirety of their school days. It only served to cement Severus' doubts that the Slytherin ideology he had learnt to accept since Hogwarts was wrong. Unfortunately, his epiphany came too late.

The class filed into the dungeon classroom chattering noisily. Slughorn beamed up at them, announcing that although he shouldn't be so proud of the students responsible for the Halloween prank, he was, and hoped that they could apply themselves likewise to Potions.

Secretly, Remus thought that Slughorn only wanted his students to show off their Potions skills as they had done so adeptly with both Charms and Transfiguration. It was no secret that Slughorn liked prestige and recognition, and for Potions to feature heavily in such an intricate prank as had been carried out the night before would be an honour for the man. Remus couldn't decide yet whether he wanted to humour the good-natured yet biased professor.

During Remus' thoughts, Slughorn explained to the class the task at hand, and the homework to be done at the end. James and Sirius both groaned but paired with each other, leaving Remus, once again, with Peter. Remus was hoping that, at some point, Peter would grow into his magic a little more and become a slightly more competent wizard. He had no problem helping Peter, but he was getting a little tired of his hard work never seeming to rub off on the other boy.

The class settled into their task relatively quickly, and Lily paired with Alice, leaving Frank and Chris at the desk in front of them. When Lily came back with the supplies needed for a forgetfulness potion, Alice glanced up at her.

"Snape is watching you," she said quietly.

Lily looked up to see her friend looking in her direction and smiled. "So?" she asked the other girl.

"I don't know. He just seems suspicious of something, and he's staring at you as if you have all the answers," Alice answered, puzzled.

Lily sighed. "He was questioning me about the prank last night. Seems to think I know something about it,"

"You didn't tell him anything, did you?" Alice stopped what she was doing to look at her friend.

"No,'" Lily replied, tipping Leathe River Water into the cauldron. "Why do you think he's so suspicious? He knows I was lying, but he can't outright accuse me because I'm his friend. Mind how much you put in!" She indicated the valerian sprigs in Alice's hand.

"Sorry," Alice winced. "Well, don't let him find anything out, will you? I know you aren't the best of friends with the guys," she indicated their fellow Gryffindors with a wave of her hand "but, you know we'll all be in trouble if McGonagall finds out. She was absolutely steaming this morning,"

"I know, I know," Lily slumped back on her stool after stirring the potion. "I wasn't going to tell him anything,"

Chris took this opportunity to lean back to join their conversation. "What do you think will happen if we do get caught?" he asked the two girls.

"Detention until Christmas?" Alice suggested, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"It's a good thing we're not third year or above, otherwise we'd most likely have to give up Hogsmeade privileges," Frank finished stirring his and Chris' potion and turned round to face them.

"And Quidditch!" Chris added, causing both girls to scoff.

"Quidditch is nothing more than a brutal game designed to feed the male ego," Lily said primly.

"Have you ever actually seen a Quidditch game, Lil?" Frank asked her.

"No, and I don't plan on it. Quidditch is something I imagine Potter and Black are obsessed with, and I plan on having as little in common with them as possible. Barbaric,"

"Don't tell us how you really feel," Sirius butted in, a hand on his heart and a wounded expression on his face. Nobody had noticed him come over, he having been bored stiff just watching the cauldron bubble, but upon seeing him Lily's face settled in a stoic expression.

"Don't expect me to apologise," she snapped.

"An apology? From you, Lily-flower? I wouldn't dare to dream," Sirius grinned, earning himself a glare from Lily. "Why are you talking about Quidditch anyway?"

"Discussing possible punishments should we ever be caught by McGonagall," Alice explained, looking rather grim.

"Here's an idea; stop talking about it," Remus cut in, looking exasperated. His and Peter's potion was going quite well, and he had finally dared to hope that Peter had actually found something he was good at. He and Peter had left their potion, bubbling away like instructed, to investigate the current gathering about Alice and Lily.

"That's probably a good idea," Chris grinned.

"Sirius!" Came James' frustrated voice, and the seven Gryffindors looked up in James' direction. "You're supposed to help, not run off just to take all the credit!"

"Oops!" Sirius laughed, walking back to his friend and dumping far too many than the required four mistletoe berries into the cauldron, without even bothering to crush them, causing a billow of smoke to rise up and surround them.

"SIRIUS!" James yelled from the midst of the smoke, and the class heard the sound of a punch and Sirius' yelp.

"I'm suddenly glad I always get paired with Pete," Remus muttered, and some of his friends laughed softly, watching as Slughorn cleared the smoke and gave both boys detention.

James and Sirius got split up to pair with Remus and Peter and Frank and Chris respectively, since it was far too late in the class to start over. Remus left James to crush the mistletoe berries in the mortar and concentrated on the commotion behind him. Looking round, he saw Frank restraining Sirius from the potion whilst Chris quickly threw in two pinches of their crushed mistletoe berries and hastily stirred five times anticlockwise. He finished with a swish of his wand and bottled up some of the potion before running to Slughorn's desk with it to be safely deposited.

All the while, Frank was holding Sirius back, repeating phrases such as "Oh, no you don't! You're not getting your unthoughtful paws on our potion too!" Sirius was only let go when Chris had returned and vanished the remaining potion, and Sirius skulked off to the girls' table to sulk, which neither appreciated.

Turning back round, he saw Peter bottling their own potion and waited until Peter had safely given the vial to Slughorn before he vanished the rest of the contents of the cauldron. With Pete, you could never be too careful.

Sighing, he heaved his bag onto his shoulder and led the way out of the classroom towards Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius was still sulking so dragged Peter to the back and Remus rolled his eyes, before he spotted Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey on their way down the greenhouses. He waved them over and everyone crowded round to discuss McGonagall and her ire. As neither Hufflepuff had been at breakfast the Gryffindors quickly explained what had happened and neither looked impressed.

"Well, let's not get ourselves caught then," Mackenzey stated.

"Easier said than done," Peter muttered, as Alice said "Snape's already suspicious. He questioned Lily this morning,"

Lily glared at her friend, but as everybody looked at her she nodded her head. "I think if it had been anybody but them," she indicated James and Sirius, "he'd probably be harmless, but you know how he feels about them. With good reason," she spat, glaring at James as if everything was his fault.

"He's hardly innocent in our activities, Evans," Sirius said, shrinking back when Lily focused her glare on him.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Just be careful, or we're all done for,"

The two groups separated once again, running to have to get to class on time. They met back at lunch, and, whilst they tried not to converse about the prank, it was difficult, and it wasn't until Kerris confusedly pointed out that Snape was attempting to inconspicuously walk past the table every two minutes that everybody finally had the urge to discuss everything but the prank. Snape gave up not long after, but none of his fellow first years concerned themselves with that, thinking that he had given up on his mission.

The rest of the afternoon passed relatively quickly, Mackenzey and Ruby-Jane enjoying the time to catch up with Kerris alone in Potions and the Gryffindors, even if it was in History of Magic, whilst Troy and Hunter smirked throughout both their afternoon classes, being that they were Charms and Transfiguration, which, evidently, both were excelling at. That didn't mean to say magic was easy, but it proved that first year really was about learning the basics, and that even the slackers could deal with.

The aftermath of the prank was wearing off, especially with the threat of Snape, and at dinner it was a rare occurrence to find Kerris, Troy and Hunter sitting with Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey at the Hufflepuff table instead of at Gryffindor. Kerris fit in easily with the four older friends and they were soon giggling about music, whilst Hunter rolled his eyes at their inane comments about certain members of bands being attractive. It was an easy going conversation, and Mackenzey noted after a while, glimpsing their friends in Gryffindor, that it was nice to be able to converse without the threat of an argument or other disagreement. The others nodded and soon the five were headed off to the Hufflepuff common room, the friendliest of the three Houses.

The Gryffindors, meanwhile, were separated into three groups. Lily had pulled Alice away from the boys and the two were sat with Mary MacDonald, Lily looking much less sour than usual. Pete, Chris and Frank had distanced themselves from James and Sirius, and Remus, sat with his two most troublesome friends, had a look of longing on his face as he wished he could escape James' new absurd plan. After James' introduction he hadn't the will to continue to listen, and Sirius' excited nattering when James had finished only confirmed Remus' fears.

"You realise if you pull another one so soon, we're going to be in even more trouble if and when McGonagall finds out?" Remus asked them drily.

"Shhh, Remus!" Sirius hissed. "Someone might hear you!"

"And deduce what?" Remus rolled his eyes. "That you like to truant your classes? I hardly think that's a well-kept secret,"

Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but James kicked him in the shin and said "Yes, but speculating and having confirmation are two entirely different things,"

"I think doing it more than once in such a short space of time might as well be confirmation," Remus muttered.

"Let them speculate," Sirius shrugged, spotting Snape doing his weird stalkery thing again. "Can we get out of here before that greaseball covers us in his slime?" he continued, giving Snape a nasty glare which the other boy returned in force.

The three left the hall, followed not long after by the other three boys, and Snape cursed. He was no closer to getting proof the arrogant, swaggering Gryffindorks were behind the prank. He was about to approach Lily just to say hi when he heard Prewett saying how hard Transfiguration was going to be tomorrow, knowing how unimpressed McGonagall had been with the prank on Halloween. This immediately piqued his interest and he once again attempted to be inconspicuous. Lucky for him, the two girls were so involved in their conversation they weren't paying any attention to their surroundings.

"Don't worry, Al," Lily replied to her friend. "If anything, she's going to be keeping an eye on Potter and Black, not us,"

"But she has obviously noticed we all hang out. And she can't expect them to have pulled it off by themselves, surely?" Prewett bit her lip. "She's been a teacher forever, I have no doubt she knows a guilty party when she sees one,"

Lily shrugged. "I still think we're safe, compared to the boys anyway,"

"How can you be so calm about this, Lily?" Prewett asked, concern lacing her voice. "Imagine what McGonagall would do if she found out it was us?"

Snape stared at both girls curiously. THEY had been responsible for the prank? He felt a little hurt by Lily's participation but continued to listen.

"Well, she's not going to for a start. And, there's too many of us. Sharing the blame,"

"Yeah, but I just know she's going to be far more harsh on the Gryffindors,"

Now Lily paused. "If she finds out," she said hesitantly.

"Let's hope everyone else has kept their mouth shut,"

"Potter and Black keep their mouths shut?" Lily asked almost incredulously. "Did you not hear them earlier? They're so pleased with their idea and its execution they were planning another!"

This was all the proof Snape needed to drop Potter and Black in it, and he would drag their stupid friends Lupin and Pettigrew into it. They all deserved whatever punishment McGonagall handed out and he hoped she was harsh. He was so distracted by this revelation he had forgotten about the two girls.

"It wasn't just their idea…" Alice began, trailing off.

"I know," Lily replied, before her friend clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Snape…" she breathed out, having finally spotted Lily's friend behind her shoulder.

"Oh! Severus!" Lily whirled round, a beaming smile ready for her friend.

Snape returned her smile, but was too busy thinking about his plan to inform McGonagall that he simply waved at her and ran off.

"He heard," Alice closed her eyes and hit herself on the forehead. "After all that, it's bloody us who basically tell Snape who was responsible! Merlin, we're so in for it,"

Lily looked at her confused.

Alice gave her a pitying smile. "He's been hanging around all day, obviously hoping to hear something. And, I am pretty sure he just heard our entire conversation,"

Lily's faced dropped. "Maybe I could talk to him?"

"I doubt it. You said yourself how he feels about Sirius and James,"

"We'd better go tell them," Lily said morosely. She didn't like Potter and Black, but she didn't intend to drop them, or anyone, in it. She had really messed up.

Unsurprisingly their fellow Gryffindors were not in the least bit happy with the two girls revelation, especially because they weren't entirely sure what Snape had heard and who he was going to drop in it. James and Sirius were a given, but the rest of the group were on edge the rest of the night, wondering what the next morning would bring. Snape may not have necessarily picked up on each of the thirteen participants, but if he had, they had no way to warn their friends before breakfast. Unfortunately, because they were usually in Gryffindor they had no need for the other passwords.

The Gryffindors headed down to breakfast together the next morning. It only seemed fair that, should Snape have told McGonagall, they face her together. Lily was pale, chewing her lip as she walked. Although she was certain Snape would avoid putting any blame on her, it was still her fault that the others would be punished. Her and her stupid big mouth.

Even James and Sirius were quieter than normal, and nobody else could find the energy to suggest even pasting fake smiles on their faces, considering that the morose atmosphere certainly made it clear that something was amiss. It was somewhat fortunate they came across Mackenzey, Ruby, Troy and Hunter in the Entrance Hall, and, at the curious expressions on the faces of their friends, Frank informed them that there was a high chance that Snape had dropped some, if not all, of them in it with McGonagall.

It was Lily who suggested the other friends walk in after the Gryffindors and sit again at the Hufflepuff table, as maybe it would allay any suspicions McGonagall had as to whether they were also party to the prank. She didn't want any more of her friends to get into trouble because of her big mouth.

The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins walked in almost five minutes later, trying to act like nothing was amiss, and found Kerris sitting at Ravenclaw already. They took seats next to her and quietly told her what was going on as they buttered their toast and kept cheery grins on their faces.

McGonagall, however, hadn't spared any of the first years a second glance, and hope began to build that Snape had not been so cruel. Maybe instead he planned to blackmail them? That they could handle. Handle better than the Deputy Headmistress' ire.

McGonagall left breakfast without saying anything, but the first years were still hesitant to breathe a sigh of relief, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors especially as they had first period Transfiguration with her.

Ruby and Mackenzey headed over to the Gryffindor table to find Chris, Remus, Peter, James and Sirius, whereas Hunter, Kerris and Troy waved goodbye to their friends and headed to History of Magic. The two Hufflepuffs hurried their friends up as breakfast was almost over. Considering the students were already on thin ice with McGonagall, particularly as the charmed lions made it obvious the prank was orchestrated by students in her own house, and with Snape's probable snitching, it wouldn't do to be late to her class.

The only thing that they had going for them, Lily mused, was that the magic used was basic first year work, hence any student in the entire school would know how to cast it. The downside was that she doubted many of the elder students would use such simple magic to orchestrate a prank, although the result had been impressive. Even if Snape directed suspicion to Potter and Black, he would have no proof. Sighing yet again, she let herself be pulled along behind the boys, Ruby, Mackenzey and Alice towards the Transfiguration room.

They filed in silently and took their usual seats. This time, however, they were mostly silent as McGonagall took her place at the front of the class. She didn't seem to notice any change in behaviour as she explained the day's task to the students and soon allowed them to get on with it themselves.

The friends relaxed as the class went on, becoming more doubtful that Snape had already approached their teacher. He may still tell her, but now they had time to work out a plan and hopefully get them out of a whole world of trouble.

Remus' logical mind was already working on a plan, but he couldn't find any ways to deny that at least some of them were behind it. Even if only a few of them took the rap, it probably wouldn't be feasible for any punishment dished out to be shared between all of them. He sighed, knowing that if anyone was going to be punished, it would be Sirius and James.

Lily, too, was trying to work out a way that they could escape punishment. If she had been more careful, they might not even have had to think about what to do when they got caught. It was obvious that the prank had been pulled off by Gryffindors, especially because of the stupid sticking charm the others had applied to the Slytherins. Even without that, she mused, it would hard to convince McGonagall that it was a prank orchestrated by the Slytherins to push suspicion onto the Gryffindors.

Remus and Peter approached Lily and Alice's table, in the pretence of working together. Once there, however, Remus struck up a conversation with Lily, which seemed innocent to any eavesdroppers but she knew exactly what he meant.

"What do you think? Has it happened?" Remus asked her casually, indicating Alice's wandwork, but the furrow between his brows gave him away.

"I'm not sure," Lily replied. "Sorry, Alice,"

"That's okay, it's not your fault," Alice caught on to the conversation as she continued to pretend she hadn't quite got the hang of the spell.

"Have you any ideas?" Remus asked more quietly.

"I don't know," Lily frowned. "I'll discuss it more with you later?" she suggested. "Maybe we could pool our thoughts and help Alice,"

'And everyone else,' Remus thought as he smiled and agreed.

Both Lily and Remus ate quickly under the pretence of working on an essay together, and escaped to the Gryffindor common room when most of the rest of the students were still eating. Neither had gotten much further in their plans to dispel McGonagall's suspicions and both were getting more frustrated, Remus at the situation and Lily at herself. If only Snape didn't hate her housemates so much… If only her housemates weren't such bullies.

"What are we going to do, Remus?" Lily asked desperately. She hated the idea that everyone would only dislike her more should they all be punished for one, albeit large, prank.

"Be smart?" Remus suggested. "Give them alibies? If we're always together it wouldn't be too suspicious, and I doubt McGonagall would suspect you of being involved if you were to provide yourself with an alibi…"

"But if I do that, Severus will hate me…" Eleven year old Lily had never looked so vulnerable and Remus couldn't help but feel for her.

"The prank wasn't solely played on Snape, was it? So his vendetta right now can be disregarded because he's just being blinded by his hatred,"

"He's still going to know I lied…"

"Didn't you already lie to his face, Lily?"

"Stop reminding me what a horrible friend I am!" Lily snapped.

"Put it this way, Snape hating you you will be able to fix much more easily than allowing even just James and Sirius to be punished for the prank and it won't matter that much because, despite your lying, I doubt very much that Snape would drop you in it,"

"I guess," Lily sighed.

Remus' response was cut off as Frank came running into the common room.

"Lily!" He said urgently. "McGonagall requires you in her office, now!"

All three looked at each other for a second, faces pale, before Lily pushed past Frank and ran out of the portrait, followed closely by both boys. Upon reaching McGonagall's office she found every one of the friends stood nearby, and quickly discovered that James, Sirius and Peter had been pulled inside. The others had followed far enough behind to not be seen and were currently awaiting their friends' release, whilst hopefully not being spotted by McGonagall.

Nervously, Lily gulped and went to knock on the door. She heard McGonagall's permission to enter and stepped through, careful not to give away that everyone else was stood outside.

"Miss Evans," McGonagall greeted her, a neutral expression on her face. Black, Pettigrew and Potter were seated in three chairs to the left of Lily and Severus was seated to the right, a gleeful expression on his face. "Mr Snape has informed me that you know the identity of the culprits of the prank two nights prior?"

"I… I…" Lily stuttered.

"I need no confirmation, Miss Evans, as Mr Snape here has kindly provided his memory of the confession,"

'Confession? Did McGonagall know she was involved too?' Lily looked round and two of the three Gryffindor boys had glares fixated on the Slytherin, whilst Peter looked nervous. When McGonagall averted her attention to them, however, all three sat up and perfected looks of confusion.

"We know not of this memory, Miss," Sirius started.

"Are you sure Miss Evans was not mistaken in her belief that we were behind the prank?" James continued.

"That IS the only proof you have, is it not?" Peter piped up. "We have never discussed with her, nor anyone else, that we initiated the prank, quite simply because we did not, so how could Miss Evans know that it was indeed us?"

"You're all liars," Snape snarled, and Lily recoiled at the look her threw her.

"Mr Snape, please!" McGonagall said curtly. "Miss Evans, do you have solid proof that these boys were behind the prank?"

"No…" Lily said hesitantly.

"I do!" Snape said proudly.

"Other than the memory you have already provided?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, Miss," Snape smirked.

"Then please, put it forward. I would like to resolve this matter as soon as possible,"

Snape provided another thin strand using his wand and the four Gryffindors watched in horror as Snape's memory clearly showed the three boys discussing the prank at dinner that evening. It had been before Lily and Remus had left to try and work out a solution, and the other three had evidently been trying to work on an alibi with little success. It was, however, all the proof McGonagall needed, and Lily was suddenly glad she hadn't attempted to be their alibi.

"Thank you, Mr Snape," McGonagall said, her voice steely. "Miss Evans, Mr Snape, you may go,"

Lily exited first and attempted to ignore Severus as he ran to catch her arm.

"Don't, Sev, just don't," she said softly as she pulled her arm away. She went in the opposite direction to her friends in the hope he would follow and she sighed in relief when he walked past her after she had slipped into an alcove. The last thing she needed was to lead him into believing they had all been party to the prank.

However, she thought, as she meandered her way back, maybe they could all get a lesser punishment if they all handed themselves in… Being caught by Snape would mean they wouldn't have pleaded guilty, but to admit to McGonagall with little prompting (she, for one, didn't feel that guilty for letting Potter and Black go down) that they were all the culprits she was looking for could possibly help their case.

She ran the rest of the way, her genius idea flying round her head. When reaching the group she gasped out what had happened and explained her plan. Although the others looked apprehensive, they were all motivated to save their friends, even the Slytherins. It was then that Lily decided Blue and Crowley weren't that bad.

Nervously she led the group back around to McGonagall's office and tapped on the door. This time when asked to enter she stood up straight and practically strutted into the office, followed by her friends.

Once the door was closed and before McGonagall could speak, Lily, right hand tightly clasped with Alice's, lifted her head up, looked McGonagall straight in the eye and said; "We all did it. We're all responsible,"


	6. The Aftermath

_A/N: Latest instalment! Happy reading. Let me know what you think of the story/characters so far. Things will get increasingly more juicy the older they get. I have big plans!_

The Aftermath

Troy woke the morning after McGonagall's detention giving, and inwardly groaned. They would have to report to her later that evening to receive detention, which Troy was not looking forward to. Still, she supposed, it was their own fault.

Groaning out loud this time, she dragged herself out of bed and got dressed, pulling a brush through her hair before her stomach rumbled and she entered the common room cautiously, in case McGonagall had announced the culprits of the prank at breakfast and the Slytherins were waiting for her. Surmising finally that no such thing had occurred, she almost ran through the corridors until she reached the hall, and headed to her friends, who were today sat at the near end of the Gryffindor table.

Always with the Gryffindors, she thought wryly, albeit more comfortable than she had been with the idea. She waved casually at Peter as he looked over and saw her, and hurried over, wanting at least a slice of toast before breakfast was over. She carefully avoided any Slytherin interaction with anyone who wasn't Hunter, and sat with her back to the Slytherin table, fully aware of the glances, and glares, she was receiving, but not caring in the least.

"Morning, Troy," Ruby-Jane smiled over, eyeing her food and eventually taking a big bite of her jam and banana covered toast.

"Morning? On a Sunday? And Troy's up?" Mackenzey dared to ask in mock disbelief, assuming she was safe as she was sat a fair few places up the table to Troy. Mackenzey didn't notice the slight flick of Troy's wand, which she had retrieved upon entering the hall, just in case, but gasped as a goblet of pumpkin juice toppled onto her lap.

"C-cold! So cold!" Mackenzey yelped, attempting to mop up the mess.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Scorgify," she said, her position next to Mackenzey enabling her full access to the other girl's lap.

"Aw, Troy, did you have to?" Hunter complained from opposite Mackenzey. "That was my juice,"

Troy didn't bother to answer, and instead Ruby-Jane offered an unused cup to him, filling it with juice before she passed it over. Hunter smiled in thanks and took a long slurp to spite Troy.

"I'd be careful there," Peter warned, "Could be you next,"

Hunter laughed, but cut it short as he did know Troy, and knew she was perfectly capable of getting her silent revenge on him too, and not feel bad about it.

"Did you see the Slytherins' faces this morning?" Sirius asked gleefully, attracting the rest of the group's attention, apparently forgetting all about the previous night's drama.

James laughed along with him. "I was watching out for Snape. He still looks like a sour puss, and it's been almost a week. I'm beginning to think it's just his face!"

Lily and Alice shook their heads, Lily in frustration and anger at the treatment of her friend, and Alice of their easy amusement.

Both boys were sat facing the Slytherin table and Ruby-Jane was sure the Slytherins would know the whole colour change prank had been them for a number of reasons, not least because Snape had already dobbed them in once. She sighed, knowing life at Hogwarts had just gotten a lot more difficult. She kicked both laughing boys in the shin, careful not to catch Remus on James' other side, and shushed them when they looked at her incredulously.

"Do you want the Slytherins to know it was you, no doubts? We're lucky neither Snape nor McGonagall has told the whole school! Don't give them reason to!" she hissed.

James and Sirius looked at each other. Did they? It was a fun prank, and they weren't ones to shy away from punishment and consequence of their actions, but maybe admitting to this one would be a bit like suicide. The teachers and the Slytherins? Both boys were sure they could handle it, they just weren't sure they wanted to for the next seven years. They were positive revenge would be imminent, so to stand up and say, hey, it was us, would be a bit, well, stupid, and both boys were far from stupid.

"Sorry," they said in unison, high fiving each other.

Remus shook his head at Ruby-Jane as she whacked her hand to her head. "Maybe they'll grow up one day?" he asked hopefully.

Ruby-Jane looked at the giggly boys, now eagerly attacking their forgotten food, and Sirius successfully distracting James long enough to steal all the bacon from his plate. His second attempt at stealing a sausage however was thwarted when the sausage he had tried to remove from the plate was the same one James had just picked to eat. Hurriedly he went back to his food, not even glancing up when James exclaimed all his bacon had disappeared, though Ruby-Jane did see a smirk cross his face.

It was Lily who made the smart remark that maybe James had already eaten his bacon, and he looked puzzled for a moment and shrugged, going back to his food with the air of someone who hadn't eaten for a week.

"No chance," Ruby-Jane answered Remus' question.

Remus agreed wholeheartedly.

After breakfast the thirteen students went out into the grounds, having all dressed warmly that morning. It was, after all, now November, and all thirteen could think of many warmer places than the castle.

The students had been granted permission to learn and practise heating and warming spells, as all members of staff were also fully aware of the temperature in the castle during the winter months (they did reside there too!), and sympathised with the students, especially the first years whose first year it would be in the draughty castle, and who had probably spent each winter up to now coddled by a warm fire at home.

As the pre-teens settled under their acclaimed tree a silence fell. They were all content sitting with each other for company. There was a feeling of relief, knowing that because there were so many of them, McGonagall had only seen fit to give each of them a fortnight's worth of detention and twenty points off each student, which put Ravenclaw way ahead and Gryffindor way behind, much to Lily's chagrin.

Soon enough though, James and Sirius were getting bored.

"I wish it would snow," James whined.

"Ergh, I don't," Ruby-Jane brushed some mud of her fingers.

Sirius looked appalled. "You don't like snow?"

"No," Ruby-Jane replied shortly. Remus looked at Sirius and after a few moments closed his gaping mouth for him. Sirius didn't even notice. Instead he quickly turned his neck to look at James.

"You hear that, she doesn't like snow!"

"She has never liked snow, and she has a name," Ruby-Jane cut in before James could reply.

"I don't like snow either," Mackenzey said, ending the impending… debate.

Sirius only shook his head in disbelief, his shock rendering him speechless on the subject for now.

"Well, I wish we were in third year so we could go to Hogsmeade," Alice said, leaning her blonde head on Lily's shoulder. Ruby-Jane looked over at the two girls and smiled slightly. They had such a great friendship for knowing each other two months. True, it wasn't amazing like hers with Troy, Mackenzey and Hunter, but she knew Lily would stick by Alice and Alice likewise. That's what Hogwarts taught you; to make friends for life. There was nothing more important, in Ruby's opinion. In the same space of time as the Gryffindor girls, Ruby was close to Peter's friends, especially Sirius, and James to an extent; you never saw one without the other, unless they had separate detentions (which now happened quite frequently). Troy bonded well with Remus, with their love for books. Not studying, just reading. Kerris and Chris were best friends, that made the group work out well, Ruby reflected, tuning back into the excited chatter around her.

"Hogsmeade sounds great!" Chris exclaimed. Ruby quickly reached the conclusion she hadn't missed much; she'd heard loads about Hogsmeade already, although she'd never been.

"I want to go to Honeydukes!" Peter added, his mouth watering, and Hunter rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Do you think of anything else?" he asked the other boy. Peter hesitated then shrugged.

"Nah," James cut in, "Zonko's all the way for me!"

Kerris looked a bit puzzled, so Mackenzey leaned over to her. "Honeydukes is the sweet shop, and Zonko's the joke shop," she grinned, her green eyes gleaming. Mackenzey's one weakness was a good prank.

"Ooh, I want a Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks," Alice's face had a dazed look.

"You've had one? No fair!" James pouted.

"Yeah," Alice shrugged. "I got got one last Christmas. Folks figured I was old enough or something," she grinned.

James crossed his arms, sulking. "I wish my parents were younger, then they'd let me!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, James," Remus said, ruffling his friend's hair. James batted him away.

"What is Butterbeer?" Lily asked.

"Ooooh, it just gives you a warm feeling when you drink it, and tastes like less-sweet butterscotch," Alice shivered thinking about it.

"And it's slightly alcoholic," Sirius added, grinning.

"Alcohol?" Lily asked, slightly weak.

"Yes, Evans, but only a little bit," James squeezed his thumb and forefinger together in indication of how much alcohol Butterbeer contained.

"You can't get drunk on it," Alice assured her, "Unless you drink loads,"

"'Except if you're a house elf," Frank laughed, remembering one time when his family's elf had drunk a little too much and ended up singing three Christmas carols before dropping off his stool as he fell asleep.

James looked at Frank puzzled, and then shook his head. Bizarre boy.

"But we have another two years before we get to go," Sirius almost cried at the thought.

"You'll survive," Ruby-Jane told him wryly.

"Unfortunately," Mackenzey added, trying hard not to laugh.

"Hey!" Sirius was indignant.

"Sorry," Mackenzey apologised, looking as if being sorry was the last thing on her mind.

Sirius gave up with the sympathy vote after a few seconds. It hadn't worked before, so it had no reason to work now. Unlike some, Sirius learned from his mistakes. Well, some of the less important ones…

"Man, I'm bored," This came from Troy, who had been pretty much silent so far, except a few snorts and such at Sirius' stupidity, which, though she'd never admit it, she found rather amusing.

"What do you want to do?" Mackenzey looked at her friend with an odd look on her face that Troy couldn't decipher.

"Play a game?" The blonde suggested.

"Ooh, I like games!" an excitable Sirius bounced on his crossed legs at the prospect of a game about to begin.

"Err, okay," Troy ignored Sirius' insistent clapping. "How about 'I Have Never' _?_ "

"What?" James asked, confused, as Lily's face brightened along with Kerris'.

"That's not so bad," Lily murmured out loud, and Kerris, sitting on the other side of her to Alice, heard and agreed.

"Which version?" Chris asked.

"Err, the one where if you have done the thing the person hasn't done you have to move along a 'seat'?" Troy answered uncertainly.

"What?" Now Remus looked completely befuddled too.

"Okay, who doesn't know how to play?" Ruby-Jane asked loudly.

Instantly James, Sirius, Remus, Frank and Alice raised their hands.

Hunter looked round at the people without raised hands. "Wow, we're good," he said. "The muggle game knowledge outnumbers the wizards,"

Ruby-Jane laughed at him, whilst Troy rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Ruby-Jane instructed. She counted the boys in the group. "Err, Frank, sit to the left of Lily,"

Mackenzey picked up what she was doing and instructed Remus to move to the left of Alice. Troy meanwhile moved to sit to the right of James and Peter moved to sit to the left of Kerris. Mackenzey then sat to the right of Sirius leaving Ruby-Jane to the left of Chris.

"Sorry, Chris, but if you move before Hunter, you'll be sitting on him," Kerris laughed.

"I know," Chris answered, not looking in the least bit deterred by this, until:-

"Hunter, you get to start," Kerris said, grinning evilly at Chris. Chris clenched his jaw back at her.

"Ergh, it doesn't matter," Mackenzey said. "We'll end up sitting on everyone anyway,"

Sirius was looking more and more happy about the game, whilst Remus was looking more and more uncomfortable. Troy, noticing this, laid an arm and assured him it wasn't that bad, all in the name of fun. Remus nodded and turned his attention to the game.

"Hang on; you haven't explained how to play to us yet!" James argued, when Hunter started the sentence.

"Well, I thought you'd learn best by watching," Mackenzey shrugged, but went on. "When it's your turn you have to say something you've never done, and if someone says something you have done you move one seat to the left. That's basically it,"

"No winners?" Remus asked confused.

"Nope, it's just a way of having fun and getting to know people I guess,"

Remus nodded and Hunter opened his mouth to start.

"I've never… Been a girl," Hunter grinned. Ruby-Jane wanted to protest but it was a fair enough statement so she moved onto Chris' lap. "Hey there," she said, looking behind her grinning.

"Oomph," was Chris' reply, and she swatted him on the arm.

"I am not that heavy!" she argued and they almost missed Lily's I have never.

"I have never… Had brown eyes," she stated. James and Frank pushed the respective girls of them and James sat in Kerris' empty spot, Frank Alice's and Hunter moved into Lily's.

"Right, I have never… Listened to muggle music," Frank said. At once everyone who had known how to play 'I Have Never' moved along one seat to the left, James groaning as Troy landed in his lap again, grinning.

"Didn't expect me back so soon, did you?" she asked. James groaned in response.

"I have never… Worn makeup," Alice finished, uncertain she'd got the game right. At once Lily, Ruby-Jane and Mackenzey moved, cursing Alice's natural beauty. She smirked at them.

"Um, I have never served a detention? Yet," Remus half asked, causing both James and Sirius to jump up, and Sirius to leap heavily into Mackenzey's lap. Ruby-Jane gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Right, I've never been in Gryffindor," Troy laughed, knowing at least half the group would have to move.

"No fair," James complained, though relieved he got an empty spot.

"Err, I've never painted my nails," Kerris said, wondering who had. Lily, Alice, Ruby-Jane, Troy and Hunter all moved, the boys staring at Hunter with a mixture of emotions. He shrugged. "No biggie,"

Peter pretended to think. "I have never been an only child,"

With a sigh James jumped up once again. "You hate me, don't you?"

Remus, Mackenzey, Chris, Kerris, Hunter, Frank and Sirius also moved.

Mackenzey sighed. "I have never spoken to my father,"

Instantly Ruby-Jane, Peter, Lily, Frank, Alice, Remus, Troy, James, Sirius, and Chris all skipped one 'seat' to the left.

Both Mackenzey and Hunter looked at Kerris in surprise, followed by Chris, who had thought he'd known mostly everything about his best friend. Kerris avoided any questions and instructed Sirius to continue.

"Err," Sirius thought for a moment. "I have never played a muggle game before?"

Hunter, Lily, Troy, Kerris, Peter, Mackenzey, Ruby-Jane, Chris and James all moved seats.

"Patience, I think it was," James shrugged, when questioned what game he'd played. "I was very bored," he said defensively.

"It's not a bad thing!" Alice assured him whilst Ruby-Jane pondered what to say.

"I have never owned a sports bra," she laughed.

"A what?" Sirius asked.

"You don't need to know, you wouldn't have one," Lily giggled, lifting herself from one seat to the other, along with Mackenzey and Alice.

"I have never… had an altercation with a Slytherin, but that might be about to change," Chris said, trying to subtly gesture the approaching and sneering Slytherin students.

Lily could see Severus with them, and smiled a big smile at him, which he fully returned, though when his gaze swept over the rest of the group, particularly Potter and Black, the smile became a frown faster than Lily could blink. She couldn't blame him, mind, the two were jerks. So why are you hanging around and playing games with them? Lily asked herself, mentally replying because Alice was there.

At the forefront of the group were Sirius' cousins, Narcissa and Andromeda Black, in fifth and seventh year respectively, and Andromeda looking less than happy to be there. Narcissa, however, had a particularly nasty look on her face that only intensified as she looked at the mottled group in front of her.

Flanking the sisters were Lucius Malfoy, from sixth year, well known to be courting Narcissa and a vicious sneer on his face (thinking about it, Peter didn't think he'd ever seen Malfoy without a sneer on his face), and Rabastan Lestrange, whose brother had left the year before and had married Andromeda and Narcissa's elder sister, Bellatrix. Following behind the older Slytherins were the first years Rosier, Mulciber, Wilkes and Avery, all glaring at Troy and Hunter, silently accusing them of treachery and the like. They would have been verbally abusing them by now, had it not been for the teenagers order to let them handle it. Finally, stood a little to the right of Wilkes, Snape teetered, looking a bit uneasy with the situation if only because of Lily's involvement.

There was deadly silence, during which Sirius, James, Remus, Ruby-Jane, Hunter and Troy stood up quickly, careful to ensure wands were at easy access. With a glare from his sister, Peter also stood, Frank rising with him, Mackenzey warily standing but keeping a safe distance behind the initial front line. Lily was keen to stay out of it, and Kerris and Chris weren't entirely sure what was going on. They, however, also stood with Alice, who looked a bit unsure at first, but stood up confidently having apparently made up her mind. This left only Lily still sitting, and sighing resignedly she slowly stood next to Alice, her apologetic gaze fixed on Snape.

He shrugged back at her nonchalantly, seemingly not caring, but his heart gave a pang and he realised this was Lily fighting against him, even in the smallest way. He swallowed heavily and prepared to move into line with Wilkes and Avery, gripping his wand tightly, his knuckles white.

Lily looked at him, looking past the lengthening, greasy locks and into his dark eyes, seeing the light there she couldn't see in any of the rest of the group, the look she saw in her fellow Gryffindors' eyes, even Potter and Black's, and maybe her own if she'd ever taken the time to look. She saw courage, and hope, and maybe even love. Well of course, she uttered to herself, he's your best friend! I guess I see something in him no one else can see, she thought, frowning slightly as Narcissa Black, Rabastan Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy drew their wands.

"This might get ugly," she muttered to Alice, who threw her a strained grin. However good they thought they were, they were no match for the Death Eaters in training, as Chris had put it.

Before there was a chance for the Slytherins to cast a spell, Sirius opened his mouth.

"What are you doing here?" he asked finally, not looking at Andromeda, believing this to be a betrayal on her part.

"We're at school, dear cousin, where the colours of our house are to be respected," Narcissa hissed back, her emphasis on respected.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "And we're not respecting this how?"

"Don't play smart with us, boy," Lucius took a menacing step forward, and Black did himself some by sticking his ground. Narcissa held her boyfriend back, and instead glared at her cousin.

"We know you were behind the prank,"

"And how did you come to this assumption?" Sirius asked, feigning boredom even though he could feel his heart trying to leap out from behind his ribcage.

"We saw you laughing…"

James cursed himself, Ruby had been right. "You saw us laughing at a prank the whole school was laughing about?" he asked incredulously.

"Please, come back when you have more proof," Sirius said dryly, putting on a show of maturity Lily had never seen from him before.

Malfoy and Narcissa Black were noticeably more riled, although Andromeda seemed to be keeping out of it, which made Sirius soften towards her a bit. Lestrange was apparently there as back up as he had yet to do anything, bar stop the first years from jumping their peers when the mood struck.

Malfoy snarled at Sirius, in a rare display of his losing his careful composure and Narcissa clung to his arm in an attempt to calm him. The sight made Sirius almost lose his breakfast.

"Just leave us alone, all right, we haven't done anything to you," Lily said surprising everyone, herself and Snape the most.

Her friends looked round at her, so shocked they took their eyes of the Slytherins. However they needn't have worried as the Slytherins were also looking at Lily like she had two heads.

"So much for not getting involved," she muttered to herself, staring right back into the gang of Slytherins defiantly.

"And who do we have here?" Malfoy muttered, drinking in Lily's figure. Lily thought she saw a flicker of annoyance and jealousy cross Narcissa's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come and Lily was sure she had imagined it.

"Evans," Lily said, not bothering to offer her given name.

"Yeah, all right, she's Evans, she's a Gryffindor and she's a Mudblood," Narcissa snapped, and suddenly Lily wasn't so sure she had imagined or misinterpreted the emotions that had fleeted across the younger Black's pretty face.

"That's enough!" The sharp comment was almost worthy of Professor McGonagall herself, and all eyes snapped to Andromeda who refused to cower under the gaze of the younger students. "Evans has never done anything to offend or insult you, to your knowledge," Andromeda added, seeing Narcissa start to speak. "And she seems a pretty smart girl. You had no right to talk to her like that, Narcissa. This whole thing is a farce and you know it. You just want to lay off some steam, and blame Sirius for Aunt Walburga's upset. It is not his fault he was placed in Gryffindor, Cissy, and the sooner you see that, the better,"

Narcissa gaped at her sister. Then she grabbed Malfoy by the arm and marched off, her nose in the air. Lestrange did not dare argue with the furious girl in front of him, and herded the first years away. Snape indicated Lily to come, and she said a harried 'bye!' to Alice before rushing off. James rolled his eyes and Sirius smirked, before his eyes rested on his cousin. She looked tired and slightly pale despite her colouring, and some empathy for her issued from Sirius.

The other first years sat back down, talking about what had happened as Sirius approached Andromeda, still a few feet away.

"Thanks, Dromeda," Sirius smiled, reaching up and pushing a lock of stray hair from her face. She only smiled slightly. "You looked tired," Sirius continued, wishing he knew a way to comfort her.

"I am," Andromeda confessed, somehow knowing her young cousin would understand.

"Get some rest," Sirius advised, hugging her. She nodded silently, and watched with a small smile as he returned to his friends. She disappeared with a long, lingering glance at the first year, a breath escaping her lips as she wished she could be that young and carefree again.

"Wow," Mackenzey sighed, looking a little relieved.

"I don't think this is over," Remus warned, giving a subtle nod in the direction of the glowering Slytherins in the distance.

"And I'm afraid Dromeda might be dragged in," Sirius said miserably.

James patted him on the back. "She can handle it," he said, in an attempt to cheer his friend up.

Meanwhile Lily had caught Snape up at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She cast a warming spell, and settled herself against a tree stump. He had sat down next to her, silent, and now a slight awkwardness was amidst them.

"Why were you with them?" Severus asked quietly.

Lily didn't have to ask to know who he was talking about. "I was with Alice, and Alice was with Frank, and Frank is friends with the rest of them… I can't help that,"

"But you're always with Potter and Black!"

"I'm always with my friends!" Lily responded, keeping her anger in check. "And if you want to be like that, then I don't approve of your friendship with Avery, and Mulciber especially,"

"But Potter and Black, Lily! Do you not remember what they said on the train?"

 _Lily was sat with Snape in a compartment on the Hogwarts express. They were joined by two rowdy boys, who introduced themselves as James Potter and_ _Sirius Black. Severus took an immediate dislike to them both, and attempted to engage Lily in conversation. However, they were soon interrupted by the boy_ _with glasses (Potter)'s question._

"What house do you want to be in?"

Black answered with gusto. "Anything but Slytherin. Maybe Gryffindor. That'll make the parents mad,"

Severus scoffed and Lily looked surprised by the answer.

"I hope you'll be in Slytherin, Lily," Severus said, his eyes filled with hope.

Potter laughed. Lily ignored him, however. "So do I, Sev,"

"What about you, Potter?" Severus said with distaste.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad. Got a problem with that?" he finished, looking at Severus.

"No. If you'd rather be brawny instead of brainy -"

"Where are you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius retorted.

Lily stood up angrily, having had enough.

"Come on, Sev," she said, ramming open the door and slamming it shut behind Severus. She heard an 'ooh' from Black as she and Severus attempted to find

 _another compartment._

"I remember," Lily said, thinking back to the jerks they had been, and still were.

After another silence Lily looked at him, to find him staring at her. Embarrassed, he looked away quickly.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely, taking his hand. Severus' eyes swung back to her and he smiled earnestly.

"Me too. I just miss you, being in different houses and all,"

"I miss you too, Sev, but we're still hanging out," she said, removing her hand from his grip to brush some hair from her face.

"So, how have you been?"

"Okay," she said finally.

"Petunia?" Severus tried hard not to twist his face as he said her name.

"Still being a bit off with me, but I'm sure she'll come around,"

"She never liked me,"

Lily didn't even bother replying, knowing it was true.

"But I do," she grinned. "How are things at home?"

"Better now I'm not there, I should think," Severus said, shrugging like he didn't care.

"Oh, don't say that!" Lily exclaimed. "Your mum loves you very much!"

"But not enough to stop arguing with dad," Snape said miserably.

Lily couldn't think of anything to say. It was true his parents argued a lot, and didn't think of Severus during these arguments, but Lily wanted to find something good to say about them.

"She's doing her best," Lily said softly.

Snape almost laughed. But he didn't cuss his mother in front of Lily, knowing how she'd get about it.

"Can we talk about something else?" he asked, almost pleadingly.

"Sure, Sev, anything you want," and they proceeded to spend the next couple of hours lounging together in complete harmony.

Soon it was lunch time, and Lily said goodbye to Severus at the doorway into the hall, picking her way over to the Gryffindor table where she spotted Alice. Waving, she impatiently waited for two fifth year boys to stop blocking her way before sitting heavily down on the bench.

"Did he ask you if you were behind the prank again?" Alice wanted to know.

"No, actually. I think he's just happy that Potter, Black and Pettigrew are getting punished. He needn't know about the rest of us," Lily said, reaching for a sandwich. "Where are the others?"

"The boys will be here soon, they were finishing their stone throwing contest," Alice shook her head, "and the girls were each supporting one of the throwers,"

"But they'd be three short without you and me," Lily said.

"Yes, and that's why Peter, Remus and Frank are determined to win. Something about not needing female support," Alice grinned.

"They noticed we're girls?" Lily asked, shocked.

"Apparently,"

"Oh, look, I can see Frank and Remus!"

"And I can see some Slytherins headed their way-"

The two girls abandoned their lunches and crossed the hall, trying to get the boy's attention. They were stood just outside the door, unable to see the Slytherin table from where they were, and obviously waiting for someone.

Lily and Alice arrived just after the Slytherins, who had surrounded the two boys.

Remus rolled his eyes, as at that moment the rest of the group decided to troop into the Entrance Hall.

Peter immediately spotted the boys surrounded by Slytherins, and Lily and Alice to the side, and pointed them out to the rest. Eyes narrowed, the group advanced on the Slytherins, who had seen them come in.

Wands were drawn quickly, and each Slytherin was marked by two of the other group. Troy and Hunter tried hard to stay out of this one; they had to live with these people after all. Lily noticed gladly that Severus was not one of the Slytherins among the group. Actually, she noted, the group of four consisted of Avery, Mulciber, Rosier and Wilkes. 'Idiots', she thought, 'couldn't they understand a single instruction?'

Then Black fired a spell, and Lily marvelled at his stupidity for a split second before she dodged a Bat Bogey Hex aimed at her.

The amateur duel went on for a few minutes, until Remus put up a shield around half the group, and Lily the other. Then McGonagall made an appearance and Lily verbally groaned.

"Detention. All of you. Again," she said in her most disapproving voice, giving her Gryffindors an especially stern glare. "Report to me after lunch for details. I want to know what exactly happened here. And put your wands away!"

Rather meekly the first years shoved their wands in pockets. "Good. Now, get to lunch. And be warned, this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated again!"

She stalked away, ensuring the Slytherins were safely inside the Hall. Chris turned to the rest of the group.

"Well, she didn't take any more points away," he said.

"Yet," Frank said, looking a little anxious.

"But, on the bright side, I guess James and Sirius won't be the only ones to have had multiple weeks' detentions after this," Ruby-Jane grinned, her comment horrifying half the group.

"How is that a bright side?" Mackenzey moaned.

Lily was wondering the exact same thing.


	7. Consequential Happenings

Consequential Happenings

It was after lunch and all the first years made their way to McGonagall's office. The thirteen friends, all looking suitably apologetic towards the Deputy Headmistress for causing such grief barely two months into the term, arrived almost five minutes before the sneering Slytherins, who didn't look sorry in the slightest.

McGonagall fixed a stern expression on her face and addressed the lone Ravenclaw, Kerris, first.

"Miss Venturi, would you enlighten me as to the happenings of the afternoon?"

Kerris looked around nervously. "I think perhaps Lily and Alice would be more able to explain, Professor,"

The deputy turned her attention to the two Gryffindor girls.

"Lily and I were sat having lunch when we spotted Frank and Remus so we were waving to them, but in doing so we noticed that these four were also headed towards them. We ran over there and found the Slytherins surrounding Frank and Remus as everyone else arrived. Then everything kind of becomes a blur…"

"Right," McGonagall said. "What were you four doing with Mr Lupin and Mr Longbottom?" she asked the Slytherin boys.

Mulciber shrugged. "Nothing," he replied sulkily.

McGonagall refrained from rolling her eyes. "Detention for three nights starting tonight, and five points from each of you. Report to me this evening at eight pm sharp. If I, or any other member of staff or prefect, catches you doing anything like this again, I will not hesitate to incur a harsher punishment, is that understood? You will not be welcome here if you continue to attempt to intimidate your fellow classmates," she stated grimly.

The four boys said nothing as they filed out of the room, knowing they had been dismissed. Immediately the atmosphere felt lighter to the thirteen remaining first years, until McGonagall started to address their punishment.

"The incident in the Entrance Hall will go largely unpunished, as I believe all of you were completely innocent," she said trustingly. Nobody wanted to inform her Sirius had thrown the first curse. "I will take five points from each of you for participating in fighting; however, I will award ten points to both Mr Lupin and Miss Evans for your use of a shield,"

Nobody felt this was unfair, as the shields had been a fantastic use of magic and Gryffindor had lost the most points from their earlier indiscretions.

"As for the prank, however, each of you will serve a fortnight's detention, as you already know. I will select the groups in which you will work and inform you this evening, at precisely eight fifteen, with whom you will be serving detention. Maybe next time you will think more carefully when it comes to playing with your magic," A disapproving tone laced her words. "Dismissed," Her last words left no room for argument and the friends practically ran from the room.

"God, she's scary," Kerris murmured as they escaped down the corridor.

"Did you notice she gave us a later time than the Slytherins? She may seem like she's disapproving, but I bet their detention will be longer than ours," Alice grinned.

"I'll be sure to ascertain that when we're in our common room," Hunter also grinned.

"That doesn't ignore the fact we still have to serve fourteen nights worth of detentions," Frank sighed.

"Well, maybe you will think more carefully next time," Lily butted in.

"Evans, you played as much of a part in that prank than the rest of us, so shut up," Sirius told her.

"Both of you shut up," Alice snapped. "I'm fed up of the bickering. Either get on with each other or keep your mouths shut. And that goes for all of you,"

"Yes, Miss," James said solemnly, earning himself a smack on the arm.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to History of Magic. I'll see you all there," she muttered. "Unfortunately,"

The others gazed after her.

"Ooooh," James whistled.

"Ergh. Shut up, Potter. It is things like your stupid comments which make us bicker, so just grow up and we can all move on,"

"She's got a point, James," Remus, ever the peacemaker, joined in.

"And I can see where Alice is coming from, too," Peter sighed. "I'm a little tired of being in the middle of one of your slanging matches. Especially when it's usually aimed at Evans and she's in our own House. Save it for the Slytherins,"

Hunter and Troy coughed.

"The nasty Slytherins," Peter amended.

"Yeah, it was rather nice to sit at Hufflepuff the other day and be able to converse without fear of setting somebody off," Mackenzey noted. "I mean, we have fun together, but you really should lay off Evans a bit,"

"I am right here!" Lily exclaimed, as James said "Maybe she should lay off us!"

"I can see we're getting nowhere here," Chris sighed. "Maybe we should all just cool off for a bit?"

"So you can get all cosy with everyone and shut us out?" James demanded angrily. "I don't think so!"

"That isn't what I said," Chris replied exasperatedly.

"But it is what you meant!" James cried.

"James, calm down, for Christ sake," Peter injected.

"Now YOU'RE turning on me?!"

Peter covered his eyes in frustration. "Let's just go to our next classes, eh? We're going to be late, and we can meet up at dinner and talk about things then,"

The friends split up so the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs followed Alice's earlier steps to History of Magic, and Kerris, Troy and Hunter to Transfiguration.

Privately, most of the friends had thought James was acting like a spoilt, immature brat, and they weren't far off. James' parents were older than most, and he had been an only child; hence, his parents had spoiled him more than they should. He had also inherited the Potter gene of having a short fuse and irrational tempers, and it all boiled down to what had just occurred. It was something James was going to have to learn being around so many other people his age.

James himself, meanwhile, spent the remainder of the afternoon fuming. He had spent two hours with the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs but refused to talk to any of them but Sirius, who didn't fully agree with his friend's issue but wasn't willing to put himself in the firing line, especially without any backup. Charms with the Slytherins had been no fun at all, not least because James' anger had sobered the whole group and they had to deal with the Slytherin's jeering whenever Flitwick wasn't paying attention. None of them were in the mood to deal with the Slytherins or James by the end of the class, but figured ignoring James would only lead to more tension, whereas they were all too happy to ignore the Slytherins.

"Is it just me or are we telling James to grow up a lot?" Mackenzey mused quietly as they seated themselves at the Gryffindor table.

"He's never blown up this badly before, though," Remus sighed. "Maybe he's more insecure than we thought,"

Lily resisted making a comment about the size of Potter's ego.

"Here they come!" Alice mumbled, as the group watched James attempt to avoid them just for Sirius to drag him over.

"Hey, James," Peter said warmly.

James just grunted a reply and sat facing away from them. Sirius shrugged apologetically.

"James, you know that I value your friendship above that of most people, right?" Chris said bluntly.

James turned to look at him in surprise.

"We all do," Ruby-Jane joined in. "We don't hang out with you just because you're friends with the rest of us,"

"And you can be a little immature," Alice grinned. "But we don't dislike you for it,"

"We do, however, dislike the constant bickering," Mackenzey said outright. "So could you ALL please try to get on, or just stay out of each other's way?" She directed this last comment at James, Sirius, Lily and Ruby.

It was that conversation which caused the shift in the friendships of the group. Alice and Lily, due to an unspoken agreement between the two girls, became more withdrawn from the group, preferring instead to spend time in the library, occasionally joined by Frank, Chris and Kerris. On the odd occasion, too, Mackenzey would come to them for help with her subjects, as she still found magic difficult to grasp and her other friends were far less inclined to give her the aid she required.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter made their own, almost exclusive, club. Sirius and Remus maintained their somewhat special friendships with Ruby and Troy but this was usually restricted to classes they had together. Frank was somewhat frustrated to find he was usually paired with Peter in Potions, but he did find some happiness in the fact Peter seemed to be improving and was nowhere near as clumsy as he had been before.

Ruby, Mackenzey, Hunter and Troy also made their own group and chose to spend most of their time in the Hufflepuff common room. None of the other Hufflepuffs paid mind to the two Slytherins, and the foursome found that their friendship had not changed since before Hogwarts. In some ways each was glad they didn't have to share each other. They were joined, sometimes, by Kerris and Chris, who wanted to escape the dramatics of living with the four Gryffindor boys, and Ruby readily accepted that Peter had been fully accepted by them and she perhaps wasn't as sad as she should have been by the separation to her twin.

After the fortnight's detention, where two Gryffindors had been paired with one of each of the other houses to make four groups, during which the first years had been made to clean various areas of the castle manually and caused a lot of complaining, the friends had ceased to spend all their time together. Sirius' birthday was a relatively quiet affair since, outside of his dorm mates, only Ruby, Hunter and Troy bothered to make an appearance in the Gryffindor common room and Alice only had time to wish him a happy birthday before Lily dragged her to the library. James mostly commandeered Sirius, Remus and Peter's attention but still, Sirius had enjoyed himself.

The thirteen first years still communicated in classes with each other, but they no longer spent hours together sitting at the Gryffindor table or in the Gryffindor common room. Though they would never admit it, some were glad they no longer had to spend so much time in James' company. Since his childish outburst, they had all become more wary around him and were happier that the responsibility of keeping him happy pretty much lay firmly with Sirius, Peter and Remus.

It was only when Lily was off with Snape that Alice had any free time to herself, and she spent that time catching up with all her other friends, even venturing into the Hufflepuff common room to converse with other girls her age who didn't just talk about homework and how annoying Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin were.

Both Ruby and Troy, who had experienced a similar connection with Remus as Ruby had to Sirius, were glad that they could spend time away from the boys as it meant they could enjoy being children still instead of worrying about what the connection would entail once they were more grown up. Perhaps they would mention it to their parents at Christmas.

Christmas was drawing closer, and it was only the group crossovers that let everybody know what the rest were planning on doing for Christmas. Although they had discussed possibilities back in September, some were missing their families more than they had first thought.

As it turned out, James, Lily, Hunter, Mackenzey, Chris and Kerris returned home for Christmas and the other seven revelled for the two week break in having neither James nor Lily around. The seven again began to spend time in Gryffindor tower, seeing as so few students stayed behind for Christmas. The friends were quite happy to spend time with each other and each spent an equal amount of time with each friend, making them happy that there were no favourites. The girls even went so far as to steal the other beds in the Gryffindor dorm, Alice promising them that Lily and Mary need never know.

The return of James and Lily didn't dampen the mood too much as the friends were all comfortable in the idea that they need not spend twenty four hours a day together to remain such good friends. Having James and Lily around just served to entertain the friends when neither was around.

Lily spent an increasing amount of time with Snape after Christmas, as they had spent a lot of time together at home over the break and she realised how much she missed him. He had never questioned her about the prank, which now seemed so long ago. She still felt guilty for lying and let bygones be bygones, but she wondered now why she had bothered to own up to the prank when all it did was get her practically ostracised by the other students anyway. Not that she cared, mind you; she had better things to be doing than playing nice with James Potter.

It was approaching Easter when Mackenzey suggested to the others in the Hufflepuff common room that they hang out with everyone again as she'd missed spending time with the Gryffindors. The only time they'd even hung out together at all was at the various birthdays, of which there had been seven, throughout the year, and even then Lily and James had been suspiciously absent for the most part except at their own. The others agreed and broached the subject with the Gryffindors during class.

Remus, Peter, Frank and Sirius readily agreed, but James was hesitant because he hadn't gotten reacquainted at Christmas and hadn't really made any effort since November, whereas Lily didn't care to spend time with any of them because, in short, she wasn't fond of any of them, except perhaps Frank and Remus, who she could talk to within her own house. Indeed, any event with all of the thirteen in attendance had been a tense affair, and this was exactly why some of the first years wanted to resolve it. In the end it was Alice who dragged Lily along, and told her in no uncertain terms that if she started or even participated in even the slightest disagreement Alice would send her to Coventry.

"How have you been?" Mackenzey asked Lily brightly, noticing that the red headed witch still had yet to say something and had been sitting with a sour look on her face throughout dinner.

"I've been okay," Lily replied shortly, her unwillingness to be there outweighing the knowledge that Mackenzey had often come to her for tutoring. Upon noticing Alice's glare, she added: "It's been good catching up with Severus,"

"I can imagine," Mackenzey sighed. "I still miss being with Hunter, Troy and Pete all the time. Sometimes I wish we were still pre-Hogwarts, just so I didn't have to only catch my friends during classes and before curfew,"

With a jolt, Lily suddenly realised that she wasn't the only one who missed her childhood friends, and she was glad someone else understood. Someone who understood that Severus wasn't a Slytherin to her; he was her best friend. She warmed to Mackenzey, who soon encouraged her to join a wider circle of conversation.

Alice caught her smile before Lily could see it. She knew the other girl enjoyed herself with most of the wider group. She was just an extremely stubborn mule and, Alice conceded, she may have a point about Sirius and James.

Remus had managed to calm both James and Sirius down about further planning for pranks, successfully convincing them otherwise so far by letting them do small pranks on unsuspecting students, and he was finally starting to hope that they had given up on the idea of another school-wide prank, at least for this year. This hope was dashed when, at dinner, THE dinner they had decided to hang out with everyone again for the first time in months, James decided to spring another prank on them.

Instantly Lily was upon him, like a blazing ball of fury, and most of the others looked decidedly unhappy with the idea.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lily yelled at him. "Have you learnt absolutely nothing since you somehow got sorted into Gryffindor?!"

"Calm down, Lil," Alice told her quietly, before she also turned to James. "James, really, now is not the best time to plan another prank. We have to start revising for end of term exams soon,"

"Which is precisely why now is the best time," James concluded.

Lily wisely heeded her friend and stayed silent. Her argument, however, was still put forward by Frank.

"I, for one, don't want to get into any more trouble with McGonagall," he said, frowning.

"I'm just not that keen on the idea of another prank," Mackenzey added.

"And most of us still aren't in our parent's good books either," Peter sighed. "We need to ace our exams to prove ourselves, apparently,"

"Ergh, fine," James rolled his eyes. "Can we plan one for the Welcoming Feast in September then?"

"A bit eager, aren't we?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"I'm boredddd!" James whined.

"Then why don't you tutor those less magically inclined than you?" Lily asked mockingly.

"We're not all perfect Saint Evans," James sneered.

"More's the pity. God knows we need more egotistical, arrogant, spoilt prats running around, so it's a good thing you fill that criteria, isn't it?" Lily replied scathingly, completely ignoring Alice's warning look.

"They're going to set each other off again," Troy mumbled.

"Sherlock," Hunter managed to mutter back before having to dodge out of the way as James launched himself at Lily.

The two students were still being restrained, spewing insults at each other, when McGonagall arrived.

"Detention, both of you. This is unacceptable behaviour and I will not stand for it! If you insist on acting like five year olds, I shall treat you as such," McGonagall said, her voice steely.

As McGonagall walked away, Lily muttered, "Thanks, Potter," and Alice, Frank and Kerris dragged her away before she could do any more damage.

"Stuck up cow," James spat as he brushed himself off.

"You're just as bad as each other," Ruby told him.

"That, that _chit,_ is nothing like me!" James bit out in disbelief.

"You both rile each other up, _on purpose,_ so, yes, you are just as bad as each other," Remus said.

"Well, if she wasn't so boring…" James tried to reason.

Everybody rolled their eyes.

"Potter," Troy addressed James, "You should know Evans' habits by now. She's not boring, she's sensible. And, in case you hadn't noticed, pretty much everyone else wasn't entirely on it with your prank either. So don't go hating on Lily just because she told you some well needed home truths,"

James gaped at her.

"Well said," Hunter approved, ignoring the glare James sent him, but turning to him to say; "You can be incredibly childish sometimes,"

"What is this; hate on James Potter day?" Sirius asked.

"Well, he shouldn't give out what he can't take," Ruby replied seriously. "I'm not Evans biggest fan but you have got to stop getting into it with her whenever you're in the same vicinity,"

"She's really not half bad," Peter agreed. "And she has a point with the tutoring. I, for one, could do with some extra help without having to lean on Remus the entire time,"

"I get it, I get it," James snapped.

"We're only trying to help," Remus interjected, although it didn't make James feel any better.

"I think I liked it better when we just spent time with our smaller groups," he muttered.

"Well, the one time we met up and weren't distracted by cake and other party happenings ended in disaster, so you may just get your wish," Ruby said miserably.

"I suppose that's my fault?" James said viciously. He didn't wait for a response before he stalked out of the Great Hall.

"Time to do some damage control," Sirius muttered, giving the others an apologetic look before he followed his best friend, Remus and Peter on his heels.

"So, that went well," Ruby covered her face with her hands.

"Did you really expect anything else?" Troy asked. "Even before the prank, it wasn't exactly rainbows and butterflies,"

"And James and Evans occasionally get into it in the Gryffindor common room, even now," Chris added. "I think we just have to face it; this whole friendship group just isn't meant to be,"

"Why would anyone not want to be friends with us?" Hunter grinned.

"Where do you want me to start?" Ruby asked smirking. "It's a pretty long list,"

"Pffft!" Hunter replied.

"I don't think it's us who are the problem," Mackenzey sighed.

"Why have you all got faces like slapped arses?" Jack Blue asked them as he joined them at the Gryffindor table, ignoring the dirty looks being sent his way.

"Our friends don't get on so it makes it really hard to hang out in a big group," Mackenzey told him.

"Ah. I know that. There's nothing you can really do. Maybe wait a few years so everyone matures and see where you're at?" Jack advised wisely. "From what I can see, you've all got your close friends anyway, so don't dwell on it too much,"

"Yeah, guys, at least we have each other still," Ruby said brightly.

"Always the optimist," was Troy's dry remark in response.

So, the first years suffered through one more birthday, Mackenzey's, before the end of year exams hit. It had been another tense occasion and neither Lily nor James had bothered to even wish Mackenzey a happy birthday despite her neutral stance. The celebrations had ended up being with just Ruby, Troy, Hunter, Chris, Kerris and Frank, with the addition of Abbie and Chantelle, who were more than happy to improve the whole mood of the day with their perkiness.

It seemed there was a lot of growing up to do within the group, and even the most optimistic of them gave up trying after the half-heartedness, or just simple ignoring of Mackenzey's birthday. Mackenzey, as a result, no longer sought Lily's help with homework, instead preferring to prod Kerris, Chris or Frank whenever she found something particularly difficult.

The groups seemed even more ostracised than before as fewer of the first years bothered to interact, even in class. Most of the Gryffindors kept to themselves, although Alice, Remus, Pete and Sirius spared their classmates a few smiles from time to time in an effort to let them know they hadn't been forgotten. Their friendship was more on hiatus, as it were.

The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins spent most of their time together, occasionally joined by Abbie, Chantelle and Kerris, and Chris and Frank when they felt the need to escape the confinements of being friends with their fellow Gryffindors. This suited them just fine, however, because it enabled them to keep their ten year friendship ever strong, and they found themselves less and less bothered by the separation between the first years. After all, the issue wasn't really down to them and if their classmates wanted to act so immaturely and petty, then weren't they really doing them a favour by not speaking to them?

The exam season started and tempers were more fraught, resulting in more bust ups between James and Lily especially. One particularly bad fight ended up in Sirius, Pete and Remus attempting to find cover in the Hufflepuff common room, and Ruby amusedly granted them access. It was only catching up with the other houses that made the Gryffindor boys realise just how much they had missed their friendship and all three independently resolved to fix things between James, Lily and everyone else.

When they voiced this, however, the others were reluctant, stating that they had been much happier within their own group, and to be honest, they weren't all that bothered about either James or Lily's friendship, regardless of whether the sniping stopped.

"We don't mind you three, don't get us wrong," Mackenzey said.

"Especially because Pete's my brother," Ruby grinned.

"It's just… Both Potter and Evans are being petty and immature," Troy said bluntly.

"And we were much happier without having to deal with their issues, especially when neither is actually that keen on us either," Hunter finished.

"I see your point," Remus said eventually.

"But WE miss you guys!" Sirius whined. "We need you to get on so we can hang out with you and not make James erupt again,"

"Sorry…" Hunter said, not looking at all apologetic.

Ruby suddenly started laughing and everyone stared at her in confusion.

"Sorry!" she gasped out. "I just had a sudden thought about creating like a 'friendship timetable' to schedule time with everyone,"

Peter cracked a grin. "We're not that desperate for your friendship,"

"Don't lie,"

"Don't you two start!" Troy told the twins.

"Are you actually comparing us to Potter and Evans?" Ruby asked, outraged.

"Maybe," Troy grinned.

"I'm actually insulted," Ruby sniffed.

"We're insulted on James' behalf," Sirius added. "He's much better at fighting than these two,"

"No need to say that as a compliment," Remus commented dryly. "That's why we're in this predicament,"

"Well, that, and the fact he has the emotional maturity of a three year old," Ruby remarked.

"I am so glad there is less than a one per cent chance he heard you say that," Pete responded.

"Regardless, it's true," Hunter said, unforgiving. "He couldn't even bring himself to say happy birthday to Kenz, and she's pretty much the only one outside Gryffindor who's not said a word against him. He could at least appreciate the effort she's made to be his friend,"

"He's pig headed," Sirius tried to excuse his friend.

"So? We all came to his birthday and wished him a good day," Troy pointed out.

"That was before the last bust up," Sirius tried to argue.

The others around him rolled their eyes and shook their heads and he sighed.

"All right, we'll speak to him. If he apologises, will you at least give us a chance to hang out? Even if it's like once a month?" Sirius begged.

"Depends what you get him to apologise for," Mackenzey said stubbornly, still smarting slightly from the lack of acknowledgement from both Gryffindors she had tried to defend.

"And, to be fair, it's almost the summer so we wouldn't have to come to any agreement until September,"

"Unless we meet up during the summer?" Sirius suggested hopefully.

"If we did that, we could do it secretly and Potter need never know," Hunter counteracted.

"That's just cruel,"

"Yeah, at least give him a chance to apologise,"

"He gets a chance," Mackenzey compromised. "But he's got a lot of work to put back in. I get that he's an only child and spoilt, etcetera, but he's okay with you three and Pete and Remus spoke out against him. We're not buddying up with Evans, either, but we're still being treated as pariahs by him,"

"But," Hunter added. "If he doesn't apologise, we reserve the right to meet up during the summer without him,"

"Or even with him, if he likes," Ruby said compassionately. "If he can't apologise now, maybe when he's thought about it he'll be more ready to calm down and join the rest of us again?"

"You're giving him an awful lot of chances," Remus noted.

"Well, James may not be top of my list, but you are our friends too, and we'll try as long as we can to get on,"

"Thanks," Pete said in relief. He had missed his old friends and had been wishing for a while that he could have the best of both worlds without disputes.

The Gryffindor boys left and the remaining friends looked at each other in silence.

"Well, that was eventful,"

"I don't think eventful is the word I would use,"

"Traumatic?"

"More like it," Ruby grinned.

"I'm not sure whether I'm more hoping they'll fail or succeed," Mackenzey said.

"Regardless, there's nothing we can do now, so may I suggest we go back to revising Charms?" Hunter stated more diplomatically than usual.

"Swot!" Troy smirked as the friends bent over their parchment once more.

The first year exams finally finished, after what seemed like weeks of hard work to some and time that had seemed to pass as a blur for others. The first years were exhausted, despite some of them knowing more advanced magic than the rest and they all looked forward to the long awaited summer holiday.

There had been no apology from James thus far, but his friends were optimistic that he would come around soon. Their friends were sceptical but didn't back down from their deal. James still had time to come to his senses.

The Hufflepuffs had spent the night before packing and Mackenzey had lamented how her mother had managed to fit everything into her trunk because she certainly couldn't.

Chantelle, in a moment of her former self, had then stated rather snootily that that is the exact reason she had had the foresight to bring two trunks. Seeing the other girls' amused faces, she had turned red and mumbled a sheepish apology before running, to the sound of the other girls' giggling, to rescue her toiletries from the bathroom and out of the others' sight.

The foursome had proceeded to spend the night chatting and finishing up the last of the candy and chocolate they had stashed away, and it was with warm hearts that Mackenzey and Ruby said goodbye to Hogwarts for the first time.

They managed to snag a carriage with Remus and Sirius, as Abbie and Chantelle distracted James and Pete into their own carriage. The girls each gave thankful waves to each other, Abbie a light shade of red at the prospect of being in such close proximity to James Potter.

Lily made sure to get only Alice and Mary into a carriage before slamming the door shut, to the amusement of Troy who had been standing nearby. She and Hunter avoided the other Slytherins and jumped into a carriage joined by Frank.

Chris and Kerris, meanwhile, got stuck in a carriage with Christie Jacob and Sally Ireland, and both willed themselves to be anywhere but there the second the door shut. The two other Ravenclaws wouldn't shut up and Kerris gratefully shoved the door open when they reached Hogsmeade and practically ran from the girls.

Chris discovered her hiding amongst their friends, Pete, Remus and Sirius already having been dragged off by James. Three of the foursome had waved cheerily as they disappeared onto the train.

"I suppose we should find our own compartment,"

Agreeing, the first years got onto the train together, shoving their trunks in front of them. Chantelle struggled with her two and Hunter eventually took pity on her, at which she smiled gratefully.

Frank was dragged off by Alice soon after, and Abbie and Chantelle soon spotted Warwick Oliver, Joseph Stebbins, Aubrey Bertram and Davey Gudgeon, who gestured for the two girls to join them.

"Seems like it's just the six of us again," Chris muttered good naturedly.

"Oh, that's not so bad," Mackenzey replied.

"We just can't get rid of each other,"

"Yeah, I've had to spend all my time with you lot!" Ruby said with mock exasperation. "Nonetheless, it's been a pretty brilliant year, a pretty great start to Hogwarts!"

The others concurred and there was a very enthusiastic "I can't wait until next year!" from Kerris.

"Now, what are we doing about summer?"

Thanks for reading, leave a review :)


	8. Summer Antics

Summer Antics

The start of summer was slow for the friends. It seemed that some of their parents were still unhappy with the prank they had partaken in all those months ago and as a result were keeping their children busy around the house as punishment. When questioned about the length of time it would take for their parents to be appeased the response had been non-committal. Ruby-Jane, Peter and Troy were even more frustrated that their siblings were able to see each other, especially since Alixx had also had a hand in the prank. On the fourth day of the holidays Ruby went to find her mother, completely fed up after having cleaned the upstairs bathroom for the third time.

"Mum, we are really sorry," she said upon spotting her mum drying up in the kitchen.

"I know you're sorry," Jemima Pettigrew replied, flicking the tea towel over her shoulder as she started stacking plates in the cupboard.

"Then how much longer are you going to punish us?" her youngest daughter asked, exasperation lacing her voice.

Jemima turned to look at her. "Until I'm satisfied. You both really disappointed your father and I, and until you understand that simply saying I'm sorry does not undo that, I will not be satisfied that you have learned your lesson,"

Ruby sighed. "But mum! We only did it the once, and we both tried _really_ hard for the rest of the year,"

"And now you've been whinging about your punishment since you got home. If you stopped complaining and got on with it then I would be more satisfied that you were learning your lesson,"

"Where is the logic in that?!"

Jemima fixed her daughter with a stare. "Maybe one day you'll be old enough to understand,"

"Oh, don't use that card with me!" Ruby cried angrily.

"If you insist on acting like a child, I'll treat you like a child," Jemima said firmly. "Now, you can clean out the fire grate for me,"

"No," Ruby folded her arms and glared at her mother.

"Ruby," her mother replied softly. "The best way to get what you want is to do what other people ask of you first,"

"But it's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair,"

"Mum, where do you find all these clichés?" Alixx drawled from the doorway.

"Fortune cookies, obviously," Jemima smirked good-naturedly at her eldest daughter.

"Figures," Alixx sighed. "Anyway, I came to ask if I could take Pete and Rubes out?"

"Out where?" Jemima asked suspiciously.

"Just out," Alixx shrugged. "I know you've been punishing them for days now, but even Caden's out today with friends. They're sorry and they've proved it, let them have some fun?" Alixx pleaded.

"Pete can go, but after our last conversation Ruby isn't going anywhere," Jemima said firmly.

"Mum!" Ruby shouted. "God, you play such favourites,"

Jemima watched blankly as Ruby stormed out of the room, and then nodded to the living room. "I had Pete polishing the silver on the mantelpiece. Make sure you're home in time for dinner,"

XX

Hunter's grandfather had slapped Hunter on the back when he met him at Kings Cross and grinned cheerfully. Having gone home for Christmas, Hunter had already apologised for the trouble he had gotten into and his grandfather had waved him off. Mirren Crowley had always been somewhat lenient with his grandson, not that Hunter had little sense of responsibility. He was quite happy to let Hunter loose with his friends had their parents been happy with the idea. As it was the Pettigrew and Blue families were only just able to punish their children properly, and Mirren respected their decision to limit interaction until they were satisfied.

Holly Jameson had punished Mackenzey during the Christmas holidays, too, and so Mackenzey was able to invite Hunter over. The two spent much of the first week together, finding that they could bond over mutual interests without the help of their friends, and this strengthened how comfortable the two felt around each other.

Hunter was round Mackenzey's house again when Troy and Jack turned up, followed by Alixx and Pete. The two elder siblings had agreed it was high time the youngsters had some freedom and had conspired to wheedle the same consensus from their parents. The four friends excitedly started chatting to each other as Alixx and Jack high-fived, before Mackenzey looked round for Ruby.

"She had a bust up with mum," Alixx explained. "I'll try and get her out tomorrow,"

"What happened?" Mackenzey asked.

"Ruby's short temper happened. If she'd just waited five minutes, she could be here," Alixx sighed.

"Well, mum's gotta let her out on Saturday. It's our party," Peter added. "For which you have an official invitation here," he said as he handed out the red and yellow slips of paper.

"No theme this year?" Hunter asked, looking up. "Get in!"

"No," Peter grinned. "Mum was punishing us so didn't let us have any input. What she doesn't realise is that we only say that every year to keep her happy,"

"What are you doing about your birthday, Hunt?" Troy asked, knowing it was the next day.

Hunter shrugged. "I'm happy to share with the twins again. It's not exactly the best day to celebrate itself, and I know Grampa is much happier celebrating my birthday under the pretence that we're celebrating the twins' birthdays than he would be to have some big party on my actual birthday,"

"Are you going to see them this year?" Mackenzey asked, her brow furrowed in empathy.

"Yeah," Hunter nodded. "It's the ten year anniversary. Kinda big, very sad," He trailed off, looking past his friends into the distance.

"We're here if you need us," Troy told him, nudging his shoulder to regain his attention.

"Thanks, guys," Hunter grinned, his good-natured smile returning. "But I think both grampa and I would prefer to have the day to ourselves, y'know? You can make me smile again at the party,"

"We'll make your favourite everything," Pete promised, knowing that every year his and Ruby's party was equally Hunter's. It wasn't his fault that his parents had been murdered on his birthday, after all.

"Thanks, dude. Now, who's up for some Exploding Snap?"

XX

Ruby was nowhere to be found when Alixx and Peter returned home just before dinner. When Alixx went to inform their mother they were home, Pete snuck off to what he knew was Ruby's favourite spot in the house. Nobody else was aware it was there, and Pete would never dare to intrude. He only ever went there when he could feel that Ruby needed to talk.

"Hey, Roo," he greeted, sliding into the small space. It was small and dark, a gap behind the boiler which faced the back garden, and Ruby had somehow managed to create a small window which enabled her to see outside. A small pane of glass, Ruby had drawn a cross on it to make it looked like a traditional paned window like the rest of the house. In the years that it had been there no one else in the family had noticed its existence due to Ruby's careful placement of magic.

The Pettigrew children were smart. They all got told as youngsters that they would get a wand when they were eleven and after then would not be able to practice magic outside of school. Whilst Ross and Jemima assumed this meant that their children were happy to wait, the four children learned by themselves that they could channel their magic wandlessly. Alixx happily helped all three of her siblings, having been the first one to embrace the idea, and she quickly discovered that both she and Ruby had an aptitude for magic where both brothers struggled more. Regardless, even at twelve after she began her Hogwarts career, Alixx actively encouraged the 'illegal' use of magic by her siblings because she knew that Hogwarts would only add to what they were already able to do. Hence, Alixx practiced wandless magic that could be passed off as 'accidental' rather than spending hours ploughing through the theory that textbooks provided. It was perhaps this deviance which caused Ross and Jemima to be unaware of how powerful their union was, and therefore how valuable their children would become.

"Hey," Ruby replied shortly, softly, to her brother. The light from the setting sun streamed into the small space, illuminating the wooden boards which made up the walls. Ruby's hair shone with golden streaks from her time out in the sun making it look like a small halo hovered above her. Peter grinned at the thought; his sister was no angel.

"I think dinner will be ready soon," The statement was designed to let Ruby talk in her own time. Peter may have a sixth sense when it came to his twin, but he still wasn't psychic.

"What is it?"

"Lasagne, wedges and garlic bread," Peter replied.

"My favourite," Ruby murmured. She took the bait. "Why does mum hate me?" she finally asked, turning round to look at him. She was nibbling her bottom lip, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"She doesn't hate you," Peter confirmed, taking a hand and squeezing it. "I think, perhaps, you're too similar sometimes, but mum doesn't see it. She thinks you're acting out on purpose, rather than simply being as stubborn and headstrong as she is,"

Ruby couldn't even muster a smile. Instead, a tear slipped down her cheek. "So what do I do?" Ruby asked somewhat desperately.

Peter thought he understood. Family was important to all six members of the Pettigrew family. Having so many siblings it was impossible not to be close-knit and their parents treated them all equally. For Ruby to feel like their mother treated her differently to all her siblings was a cause of great distress, especially when Ruby couldn't understand why. Alixx was always the voice of reason, and Ruby tried to be like her but somehow she always got it wrong where Alixx always succeeded in winning both her parents round.

"I think you just be you," Pete consoled his sister with a smile. "The older you get, the more mature you'll get, and if we have this conversation again in five years, then we should re-evaluate your personality," he grinned, smiling more when Ruby looked up at him with a small grin.

"You're an idiot," she told him. "But I love you anyway,"

"Good! Now, dinner?"

"I suppose," Ruby sighed.

When they arrived at the dinner table the food was being served and they hurriedly took their seats.

"Have you washed your hands?" Ross Pettigrew asked.

"Yes, dad," the twins chorused as their mother entered the room with a tray of wedges.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been?" Jemima asked her youngest daughter coldly.

"Jemima," Ross said warningly. "From what I've heard Ruby has done nothing wrong, and I think you're being unfair. Did you not get frustrated when people mistook your personality for lack of manners and brusqueness?"

Ruby smiled slightly, glad that her dad was openly defending her. She was careful not to let her mum see, though, otherwise Jemima would probably assume that Ruby was manipulating her somehow. She rolled her eyes inwardly at her mum's reasoning skills.

Jemima said nothing, but sat down and began serving. Both Alixx and Caden gave her supportive smiles across the table, and Ross winked at her before their attention was diverted to the food in front of them.

After that the atmosphere was lighter in the Pettigrew household, and all four children were allowed to go visit whomever they liked, as long as they informed their parents where they were going. Despite the tension easing, only Alixx still approached their mother more than was necessary, and it was on the sunny Friday three days later when the house was otherwise empty that Jemima brought the topic up with her husband.

"Our children are avoiding me," she stated bluntly, whilst they were enjoying a cool drink in the garden.

Ross saw no reason to beat around the bush. His wife had always been able to handle the truth, and it made her a better person for it. "Yes,"

"Why?" Jemima asked in puzzlement.

"Because they think you'll go off at them for no reason. No reason that they can see," he amended. "And I can attest to the fact that sometimes your thought process is questionable,"

Jemima sighed. "What happened? I always promised that I would be the best parent, and now I have three out of four children who would rather avoid me than even set eyes on me,"

Ross set his gaze on her. "You're more like Ruby than you can remember," he said wisely.

Jemima looked away, thinking about the argument a few days prior, and what Ross had said at the dinner table. No one liked being wrong, and Jemima was still slightly smarting over the calling out of her own behaviour, especially in front of her own children who were still pre-teens, but she conceded that the point still stood.

"And maybe by acknowledging that, you'll not only help yourself but you'll give Ruby a better guide to not making the same mistakes," Ross added.

With that conversation fresh in her mind, Jemima sought out all four of her children individually, before addressing them as a group and apologising, reminding them that she would always be there and non-judgemental. The individual conversations had been educational, and Jemima resolved to make Ruby, especially, feel closer to her, even though it had not been Ruby herself to inform her mother of how she felt.

XX

The Saturday after the disruption in the Pettigrew household was the twin's birthday party, and all their friends had been invited, along with their parents' friends; the Blues, Holly Jameson and Mirren Crowley. An invitation had even been extended to the Potters, the Lupins, Augusta Longbottom, and Kerris and Chris' parents who had all happily accepted.

As was usual for this time of year, it was hot sunny day, and so the Pettigrew parents had decided on the traditional barbecue. A brick barbecue had been built in the garden some years ago, so the preparation for the party involved erecting a gazebo with a table for drinks and setting up several round tables in the rest of the garden. Jemima then spent half an hour taping down different coloured table cloths and placing a centrepiece on each table. This was the biggest party they had held in a while, and the first time they were meeting most of the guests. Jemima was eager to make a good impression, and her family left her to it.

Ross, meanwhile, was in charge of food and drinks. Despite being a Pureblood, he much preferred doing certain things the muggle way, and barbecuing was one of them. He set up everything how he liked and then went to organise the arrival of the children's surprise. Not long after that the family reunited in anticipation of the arrival of their guests.

Sirius had been staying with James for the duration of the summer so far, after an argument with his mother caused him to leave the house one day and he hadn't yet worked up the courage to go back. He and James, along with James' parents, arrived first for the party, and both twins were over the moon to see their friends again. Ruby was somewhat off with James, but didn't care to see whether he noticed. He seemed friendly and eager to join in, but Ruby wasn't one to forgive and forget so easily.

Introductions between parents were made, and the Pettigrews immediately warmed to the older couple. They had only been there five minutes before Holly Jameson arrived with her daughter, Mirren and Hunter Crowley. Drinks were offered and the party of adults moved under the gazebo where they could sit and chat in the shade, the children happy to sit on the grass in the sun and catch up.

The sound of a car moving up the driveway ten minutes later intrigued the children, and they all ran as one to the front of the house where they all started jumping up and down and waving as they recognised the face leaning out of one of the backseat windows of the car.

"Kerris! Kerris!" Mackenzey yelled.

Kerris almost fell out of the car as it came to a stop and was immediately enveloped in a tight hug, James and Sirius even getting involved in the moment. The hug was still taking place when there were two sets of apparition pops in the driveway, as Frank arrived with his grandmother, who was friends with Mirren Crowley, and the Blues apparated in, a child accompanying each parent.

"What time do you call this?" Ruby called over, cheekily.

"Blame Troy!" Shane called back good-naturedly, coming over to give both twins a hug. "Is everyone round back?"

"Yeah, come on, follow us!" Pete told everyone present, and the group of fifteen moved to the back garden.

Kerris stood awkwardly next to her parents as Ruby introduced them to Ross and Jemima, and then introduced both Kerris and Frank, whom they knew by name but not personally. Mirren was left to introduce Augusta to the parents as Alixx shouted from the house.

"Floo call, Ruby!"

It turned out to be Alice, who had wanted to check it was okay to floo before randomly appearing in their house. Ruby grinned and said it was fine, before Alice's entire body materialised from the fireplace.

"I doubt anyone would have noticed," she added, hugging her friend.

The two left the house to discover that Chris and his parents had arrived and the children had formed a massive bundle in saying hello. Wordlessly, the two girls took a flying leap and landed on top of the pile, hearing several 'oomphs' as a result.

"Surprise!" came a muffled shout from somewhere in the middle of the pile, and the group finally climbed off one another so Chris could present Ruby and Peter with a joint gift. There was again another round of introductions, and by this time they were only expecting Remus and his parents.

Not five minutes later Lyall and Hope Lupin arrived with their son and, although he looked tired, Remus' eyes lit up when he saw that everyone was already there. Another round of screaming accompanied his arrival and the adults all winced, unused to the sound of so many children in one place.

"Go off and play," Ross told them. "There's a surprise next to the summer house," The wink made Peter suspicious and he quickly led the group round the bend in the garden, before yelling 'Thanks, dad!" in an excited squeal as he took in the surprise.

Before them were a number of brooms, with the full Quidditch set, along with other muggle garden games and a bouncy castle. Sirius quickly had a game set up on the mini Quidditch field the Pettigrews had provided for the occasion, where he and James were captains, with Troy, Hunter, Pete, Mackenzey, Ruby and Alixx with Sirius and Frank, Alice, Remus, Chris, Kerris and Jack on James' team. Both teams had two beaters (Hunter, Troy, Chris and Jack), three chasers (Alixx, Pete and Mackenzey, Alice, Remus and Kerris), one keeper (Sirius and Frank) and one seeker (Ruby and James).

The game was a short one. Both Sirius and Frank were good keepers, having been brought up Purebloods they had had a lot of practice, and after a while those who hadn't really wanted to play lost the will to finish the game. The keen players had been put into the important positions, and thus the game ended with four of the chasers sitting on the side lines and cheering, as Alixx and Alice continued to try and score, evenly matched at forty points each. The game was won, however, when Hunter hit the bludger particularly well, and it went hurtling toward James, who had to dive out of the way. He saw the snitch on his way down, but struggled to regain his balance and Ruby grabbed it right out from under his nose.

"And that's forty to one hundred and ninety!" Mackenzey called as the remaining players flew down to the ground.

"Well played!" Sirius winked at Ruby, who high fived him and the rest of her team.

"And you," Ruby added, turning to James with a smile.

James, who had been feeling a bit of a sore loser, recognised an opening when he saw it. His friends were slightly worried he would blow up again, but instead he smiled back. "Yeah, good game, Pettigrew,"

"Food's up!" The holler came from the other end of the garden and fourteen children went running towards the gazebo. The barbecue was currently piled high with sausages, burgers and chicken, and the boys, especially, began salivating at the sight.

"I think we should let the boys go first, just so we don't end up trampled on," Alice suggested, dodging out of the way as Sirius almost pushed her over when his bouncing became a little more energetic.

"Agreed!" Mackenzey squeaked as Peter accidentally stood on her toes in the midst of the boys' tussling to see who would be first in line.

The five girls moved to sit round one of the tables of six, patiently waiting as even Remus attempted to shove Chris out of the queue.

"Meat does strange things to boys," Ruby commented, looking at them with a slightly disgusted expression.

By the time the girls had gone to queue for their own food, the boys had all moved to a table of their own, Sirius stealing one of the six chairs around the girls' table and squeezing it in between James and Peter. Alice and Troy waited as Mackenzey, Ruby and Kerris piled salad onto their plates before all five moved as one back to their table.

"It's weird, being separated by gender," Alice commented halfway through the meal. "Usually we're all together or in small groups of both,"

"But it's good, too," Mackenzey said, dipping her sausage in tomato sauce. "Girl time is always fun!"

"Speak for yourself!" Troy injected, rolling her eyes at the concept of 'girl time'.

"It'll grow on you," Ruby told her friend with a grin.

"I hope not," Troy said seriously, making all the girls laugh.

"Did you end up asking your parents about that magical bond thing you were talking about at the beginning of the year?" Alice asked Ruby and Troy, Mackenzey having discussed it with her during one of their study sessions in the hope that Alice being a Pureblood would have more knowledge. Unfortunately Alice had been relatively sheltered in her childhood, and the subject had been somewhat forgotten as the year progressed.

"No, not yet," Ruby replied. "It's been a little… Tense around here lately,"

"What's happened?" Mackenzey asked.

"Oh, nothing much," Ruby replied, not really wanting to talk about it. "Just mum,"

The other girls accepted this answer, and the conversation moved on.

"How's Lily?" Kerris asked.

"She's good," Alice replied. "She's enjoying being home, as far as I can tell. She's been spending all her time with Snape,"

"She must be having a whale of a time," Troy grinned.

In response Alice swatted her on the arm as she told her to be nice.

They were interrupted as the cake was announced and all the guests crowded round excitedly as the two cakes were brought out. Jemima was holding the chocolate cake with twelve candles on it and Ross bore the Victoria sponge cake, both grinning at the happiness radiating from their children.

The cakes were placed on a table and Ruby, Pete and Hunter were waved to the front. Ruby and Pete, used to sharing their birthday with their friend, stood next to the Victoria sponge, letting Hunter have the chocolate cake. It had become an annual yet still unofficial occurrence ever since the children could remember, and both Hunter and his grandfather were grateful for the Pettigrew's discretion to the still raw memories surrounding the date of Hunter's birth. The three kids blew out their candles together and cut themselves slices, handing the knives to Ross and Jemima and running to eat at a table. This time the children pushed two tables together and sat as one group, loud chatter and boisterous laughter wafting back over to the parents.

"It's good to see them so happy," Mirren Crowley commented to Augusta Longbottom and Mrs Venturi.

Kerris' mum smiled. "I'm glad my girl's fit in. She was so shy and nervous twelve months ago, and now they all look as if they've known each other for years,"

"Frank mentioned there was some trouble with the Potter boy," Augusta commented. "If you ask me, he's still a spoilt brat,"

"Well, they all look happy now," Mrs Venturi replied, not sure what else to say.

Holly Jameson wandered over and gave Mirren a hug, whilst introducing herself to Mrs Venturi. She pointed out Mackenzey as her daughter, and then insisted Kerris' mum come with her to meet Remus' parents. Mrs Venturi gave a sigh of relief as they escaped to the other side of the garden.

"Augusta can be a handful," Holly told her, handing her a fresh glass of white wine. "Mirren is generally the only person who can control her, and we think that's only because she doesn't know how liberal he really is,"

"Thanks for the rescue!" Mrs Venturi grinned, introducing Holly to her husband, who had come to join them.

Mackenzey and Kerris also joined them, eager for their parents to become friends. The rest of the group watched, Sirius commenting "Look who the goody two shoes are!"

"Sirius!" Ruby chastised him, as James said bitterly "Nah, that'll always be Evans,"

"Can't get her off your mind, eh, James?" Sirius joked, ignoring Ruby.

"Ergh, don't make me sick," James replied, wrinkling his nose.

Nobody knew what to say, still not sure how James would take their usual ribbing. An awkward silence fell, until Remus nudged James rather hard.

James cleared his throat uncomfortably, and pushed his glasses up his nose. He kept his eyes on the ground as he stuttered. "I.. Um, I just wanted to say.. I'm sorry. I just wanted to say I'm sorry,"

He finally looked up after a short silence to see the girls grinning at him and the other Marauders beaming proudly at him. He smiled lightly, a weight lifting from his chest. He was unaware of Augusta Longbottom behind him, when she 'Hmmphed' loudly and he jumped, swivelling round quickly. When he caught sight of her his cheeks quickly reddened, and he turned back to his friends. Augusta came closer to the table and said gruffly "I'm glad you at least have the decency to apologise, even if it was with much coercion,"

James nodded, embarrassed, as Frank cried out "Mother!"

"I only want what's best for you, Frank," his mother replied sternly, making the others think they had had this conversation before. She walked off again, and everyone but James and Frank started giggling.

"Gee, your mum's like the Iron Lady!" Alice giggled, and Frank couldn't help but smile.

"She's not that bad," he replied. "She's just stuck in her ways,"

Remus nodded over at Augusta, who had returned to conversation with Mirren and a rather unfortunate Lyall Lupin, who had been conversing with Mirren until Augusta's return and then couldn't find a way to escape.

"Your poor dad," Ruby said, patting Remus on the arm.

"Ah, he'll be okay," Remus smirked. "Dad's tougher than he looks,"

"How come you and Frank weren't better friends before Hogwarts?" Alice asked Hunter curiously.

"I'm not sure," Hunter replied. "I probably wasn't a good enough playmate," he said a little sarcastically.

Frank grinned. "She always thought you were a little rough,"

"Oh, she'd know," Hunter winked, innuendo lacing his words. A couple of people wrinkled their noses, but the others just looked baffled, and Hunter sighed. "Never mind,"

"It's good to hang out again," Pete smiled happily.

"Maybe this year can be a little less drama-filled?" Mackenzey suggested.

"Don't jinx it!" Alice yelled. She grinned sheepishly as some of the parents turned to look at them.

"Can I suggest we avoid Evans?" Sirius suggested, half seriously.

Alice gave him a stare. "No,"

He sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot. Hopefully she'll be too busy with Snivellus to be around much anyway!"

"Can I give you a tip, Sirius?" Ruby asked, laughter in her eyes.

"What?" Sirius replied suspiciously.

"Maybe you wouldn't incur her wrath so much if you stopped called her best friend Snivellus. Just a thought,"

"Ah. Well, that's never going to happen. He's too snivelly to not call Snivellus!"

His friends sighed, with the exception of James.

"Well, guys, all we have to do is to avoid the Gryffindor common room," Troy said.

"Is it too early to attempt to rename it the 'War Zone'?" Frank asked drily.

"It won't be that bad," Remus attempted to reassure his fellow Gryffindors. There was a silence and he frowned. "Oh, who am I kidding? Avoid it at all costs. Save yourselves!"

Troy and Ruby burst out laughing as Hunter told Remus he was a drama queen. Their mirth was not shared by the other Gryffindors, though, as they realised they had less chance of avoiding any of James, Sirius and Lily's explosive run-ins.

"Right now, I would be happy to be a bloody Hufflepouff," Frank muttered, realising too late that he was sitting next to Mackenzey, who smacked him on the arm instantly.

"Rather be a Hufflepouff than a Gryffindork," Ruby stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Sirius injected. "I'm not dorky in the least. I am a HUNK!"

Peals of laughter followed this declaration. All of his friends were laughing so much they couldn't hold their breath long enough to contest his statement. Sirius looked mildly wounded but soon the infectious laughter got to him too and the sound of their laughter filled the garden.

All the parents looked over at them, feeling the happiness emanating from their children. Smiling fondly at the group they turned back to their conversations, leaving the twelve kids to enjoy the summer evening together.


End file.
